Posted By:
scott brockelmanhal,
there are a lot of oldtime collections which contain many key cards and/or unique items that have not and never will see a grading company slab for a variety of reasons, 1st and foremost these collectors do not intend to sell, EVER! 2nd they could care less what some grading company put on a sticker, they enjoy them as they are and i will tell you some are not very well displayed or protected(direct sun, PVC, etc).
now i know that as some point this material may see the markets and get slabbed, but i think you'll find 99.9% of it is totally original. i would not let the keeler cabinet or andy's restoration lead you to believe that old time collectors drawers are breaming with put together rarities.
and to answer your last part, most of these old time collections are not insured(not a wise idea) as they were not valuable when collected 20-40 years ago and even to this day some of the collectors have no real idea of their holdings.
to wit: the oregon find of old judges. think they would have sought out lloyds of london before they sold these, hell! they almost threw them away.
scott