Help/Advice buying ungraded vs. graded

[PowderedH2O]

I disagree with the notion that most high dollar cards are graded. I didn't grade a card until a few years ago. Many collectors put together nice runs of sets in the 70's through the 90's with no grading and feel no desire to have the cards graded. Their attitude is "Why should I pay someone to tell me what I already know?" In some ways they are right.

Considering that you are talking about relatively inexpensive cards in many cases, why worry about the registry? You have more freedom without it. I have some registry sets. A few months ago I paid $211 for two cards to complete a PSA set. You could buy raw cards almost as nice for less than $10. I have $2K sunk into a $300 set.

Make the set how you want and get what you want. Forget the registry.

[Mountaineer1999]

Taking another card as an example... 1957 rookie Mazeroski. I was able to get a PSA 5 for $25. I think the PSA 5 and 6 are ideal for this time frame. Looking through all that were for sale I could not find one cheaper raw that was close to the quality of the 5 unless they were more expensive.
The real pricing issue starts getting out of control with the PSA 8 and higher. On the Maz, the '57 goes for over $300 and to me that is insane. I am more than happy with the PSA 7, 6, 5 from the 50s and 60s. I am not trying to beat anyone on the registry, its just a fun checklist.