First Vintage Set - Graded vs. Raw?

[savedfrommyspokes]

With the exception of the 1952 Topps set, I have built all of my sets from the 1950 Bowman set through the late 70s Topps sets (minus 3 cards each in 51, 53, 54 Bowman sets) mainly raw first. All of my 1952 Topps were collected in the graded form. With my other mostly raw sets, an occasional key graded card that I had from before starting the set would become part of my mostly raw set. Some sets I have built (61-63 Post cereal, 70s Hostess, 65-80 OPC) will remain mostly all raw (primarily due to cost), as I enjoy the binder experience too.

Over the past 15+ years, I have taken multiple sets from mostly raw to the mostly graded/completely graded state. I took this route because I had many of the key cards already graded. My 52, 62, 72, and 75 sets are completely graded, my 57s and 71s are 93% and 98% of the way graded, while several others are 60%+ graded (61, 65, 68, 74). As most of cards needed to finish these sets graded are commons, if the price of graded commons stays down, my goal is to finish these sets fully graded.

My recommendation is to build the sets mostly raw first with only key cards graded , then slowly work the set from raw to graded if funding/desire permits.