First Vintage Set - Graded vs. Raw?

[53toppscollector]

I spent about a year and a half putting together a fully graded near complete (only needed 10 or so cards) 1953 Topps set, everything graded between a 5 and 7. Here are my thoughts:

* If I had to do it again (and I am, actually), I would collect 99% of the set raw. You generally don't have to worry about someone creating a fake copy of Del Rice or Gus Niarhos. The reason I am choosing raw moving forward is that I want to collect so many different sets, especially pre-war tobacco stuff, that for me, it doesn't make financial sense to pay $25-30 for a graded common in a PSA 5, when I could buy 10+ raw cards for one of the sets I am working on for that same price. I will never have the top rated set on any PSA registry because I won't spend hundreds/thousands of dollars for PSA 9/10 copies of commons. So that isn't a game I am going to play anymore. I just really want to have as many completed vintage sets as possible.

* Last summer, you could grade vintage commons with PSA for $7-8 per card, and it was a no brainer to do that when playing the PSA set registry game. Now, the calculus has certainly changed, and we have no idea what the bulk price will look like when it eventually opens back up. I suspect that when bulk/value re-opens, and the cost is $30+ per card, the price on existing PSA graded vintage commons will increase. At least it certainly should.

* When it comes to the HoF, then my inclination will be to buy a graded copy. Obviously new raw collections are always coming to market, but for me its almost not worth the hassle of trying to buy an EX/EXMINT copy of a Mantle or Mays raw unless the price is a real bargain. May as well just pay the premium to get an already slabbed version.

* I'm not a binders person because I don't trust myself to not mangle the cards when putting them in/taking them out of the pages. Cardsavers and big boxes for raw is fine for me.

* Don't overpay for cards. I know that one is hard to really adhere to in the moment, when you see a card you've been looking for, but really unless you are dealing in really rare cards that almost never come to market, you will see another copy of it. I searched for a few months for a 1953 Topps Jackie Jensen in PSA 5 or higher with decent centering and couldn't find one. When one finally popped up, it was a lot more expensive than I wanted to pay, but I bought it anyway. Then, within 3-4 weeks, 2 more popped up on ebay, with the same general eye appeal, for 30% less than I paid. And I was sad. If you are going to go with raw, you should generally set an upper limit on commons and just refuse to pay more. Another copy will come along, and when you are tackling big sets of 400+ cards, there are always others to grab while waiting for the next one to come along.

Good luck