You will clearly get the most cash by consigning to a major auction house. You will be able to get a favorable consignment rate of zero for a consignment of this value so you would get the hammer price. Some houses would even give a small portion of the buyer premium for a $50K consignment.
My opinion is that selling as a set will yield the most because there are plenty of collectors who do not have the patience to put a set together but would pay more for a complete set minus the big 4 and would pay more for not having to put forth any effort other than spending cash. But, the auction houses may have other opinions depending on condition of the better HOFers.
Sets rarely come up for auction and are usually pieced out so selling a complete set would be an oddity.
Based on your valuation, the set has to be in lower grade condition. If the Cobbs, Mathewsons, Youngs, Johnsons, and the other key cards are graded higher than 1 or 2, then breaking the set might make sense.
Even on Ebay, you are giving up 12.35% of the hammer so using an auction house with no fees easily surpasses selling it yourself on Ebay with no effort required on your part.
Just one opinion of course. I'm sure there will be plenty of dissenters.
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