Approaching the 1952 Topps Set

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Another bit of advice: stay consistent. The greater challenge of building a set is uniformity of quality. It's the selection process. It's not collecting when you just buy willy nilly to fill holes...that's just accumulating. And I always cringe when I see a set offered for sale on ebay or elsewhere that is just all over the map, ranging from nicely centered, PSA 6-7s, to raw beaters. Or I hate seeing a set that's all PSA 6s, and then has a star card that is a 1 and looks like a 0.

Before you start, you should figure out what grade range is realistic for your budget, and stick to it. Avoid getting cards that fall below it, and (this is harder) avoid cards that fall ABOVE it.

My 52 topps set is a median PSA 6 set. I'll dip to a 5 in the case of a star card or a high number, and for the commons I'll go up to a 7. I have a couple of 7.5s, but that was only because the price was too good. I have only one 8 in the set and that's because I raw card I bought nabbed the grade. I've never bought an 8, not because I couldn't have done it, but because it just wouldn't fit right now with the set I'm building. Eventually I'll start upgrading cards, but for the time being, I'm concerned with building a set of uniform quality, and with an emphasis on centering and original quality - gloss, unfaded colors, sharp color registration.

I hear you loud and clear and agree. This is something I have thought about in regard to dealing with this set. For the most part, I would like to stay in the same 4-6.5 range I did with '53. This would go for the raw commons I would buy as well...no beaters!! I would like to do it in higher grade, but that's probably my limit. Mostly raw commons, graded stars...

I guess I struggle with patience and have to be mindful of that and not make bad decisions and create inconsistencies within the sets. I truly appreciate the insight you all offer.