General Question About Collecting Vintage

[rsdill2]

It's an interesting phenomenon that I've noticed too. Some sellers tend to get prices realized from their raw cards equivalent to or higher than a graded card.

Here's my theory: Once a card is graded, it loses its potential. A nice NM common ungraded can always have the potential to be an 8 in the eyes of a buyer. A slabbed 7, is undoubtedly a 7 (obviously ignoring the crack out and resubmit game).

To me, its a similar phenomenon to unopened wax. A '50s or '60s unopened 5-pack of cards will sell for at least several hundred, and depending on the year/series several thousand dollars every time. Chances are that pack is going to have 5 EXMT or NM commons that combined are worth maybe 40 bucks. But the potential of it having a 10 is there. The potential of it having a Mantle/Mays/Aaron is there. Buyers are spending bucks on the potential. Suppose its an appeal to the gambler in all of us.

[GasHouseGang]

I guess it's like buying a lottery ticket. Each one might be a winner! But I've seen raw cards sell for way too much based on the way they look in the pictures. The purchaser is really hoping to get a high grade but not always being realistic.

[JollyElm]

Part of it is the old school way of thinking. If a PSA 8 card generally sells for $XX, then some dealers will look at an ungraded card and say, "This is definitely 8-worthy!" and price it near that level. Since it isn't actually an 8, the basic logic is way off. It reminds me of how 1972 high number commons always seemed to 'book' for $12...yet they were always pretty plentiful and I never paid even close to that much for one (man, I love that set!!)...and sellers at shows would have them marked at around $12 apiece (regardless of what shape they were in), and never sold any. The next show you went to, the same sellers would have the exact same cards laid out yet again. They only looked at BV and didn't bother considering the reality of the situation.

[Mattzela23]

Thanks for all the insight! It's greatly appreciated.

I feel like a lot of what's been said makes a lot of sense. At the end of the day, I want a set that I'm proud to display in my binder rather than a PSA-registry type of set.

Based on everyone's feedback, I'm going to give raw a shot and see how it goes. If I have to shift, I have to shift, we'll see.

Thanks again for all the thoughts!

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by Mattzela23

Thanks for all the insight! It's greatly appreciated.

I feel like a lot of what's been said makes a lot of sense. At the end of the day, I want a set that I'm proud to display in my binder rather than a PSA-registry type of set.

Based on everyone's feedback, I'm going to give raw a shot and see how it goes. If I have to shift, I have to shift, we'll see.

Thanks again for all the thoughts!

Some people do the majority of the set raw and just get the more expensive cards graded.

[mintacular]

Unless you are super super picky on condition or ABSOLUTELY LOVE CANT DO WITHOUT every card being a PSA 7 or whatever I think the more reasonable/affordable way to go is to buy nice raw for 95% of the cards and maybe for the $100+ big hitters play it safe with graded. JMO

[mintacular]

Also, keep in mind most common cards will be much more widely available RAW (and usually cheaper) and therefore easier to pick up