Hi Mike,
My big picture answer is to collect however you feel good about it. If you want more cards for the budget, dropping to a lower grade is one way to do that.
Taking a closer read of your post, you list a 1965 Carlton RC as an example. For a modern card like that, I would only go after a very high grade. The values of modern cards like the Carlton have fallen through the floor in recent times. A big part of this has been the realization that there are thousands and thousands of them out there. This has led to a huge disparity in value based on grade. At this point, only the top grade examples can lay claim to any kind of "scarcity". So the prices for those are strong, while prices for 6 and 7 grades (and below) are much lower than they were 10-12 years ago.
I suppose what I'm suggesting is that if you care about the future value of modern cards you want to collect, I would not be so quick to go to a lower grade in order to buy more cards. If you had done that 10-12 years ago, your collection would be worth a lot less today than what you paid.
Pre-war cards are a different market.
Cheers,
Blair
Last edited by Bosox Blair; 09-07-2011 at 03:12 PM.
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