What’s an acceptable grade for vintage cards?

[Kutcher55]

There's no right or wrong answer here. Some guys like cards that others wouldn't condescend to use as toilet paper. It depends on your budget as well as how you choose to allocate the funds that are disposable to you. It also depends on your overall goals are as a collector and if you're trying to make $ or hold the cards until you pass on, or somewhere in between.

[bmattioli]

I'll take any card I don't have regardless of condition. I'm currently working on the '53 Topps set and I'll take any grade to complete it. Send me your beaters LOL..

[metroac]

One of the things I like most about net54 is the joy that many members take in acquiring cards that I could only describe as "beat up." You're just not going to find (m)any 19th and early 20th century cards in top condition. So if you're interested in Old Judges or T206 or caramel cards (and you're not a young gazillionaire), you take what you can find.

I sold off a long run of Topps and Bowman sets in 1997 and dropped out of the hobby for 10-12 years. When I got back in, I started to collect sets that 1) I liked, 2) were small, 3) that I hadn't collected previously, and 4) that didn't have to be in beautiful condition in order to be enjoyable (or that really weren't available in top condition -- like most strip cards, for example).

The first set I did was the R312 pastels. Most I have raw, but I have graded examples from PSA 2 to PSA 5. They're beautiful cards, IMHO, but they show their age. Next, I did the R346 Blue Tints, an ugly set that looked like it needed some love, but that I wouldn't have to fuss about condition to work on and enjoy. I put together a set of 1937 Wheaties Series 9: sixteen cards, including a Dimaggio, and maybe the prettiest cards ever issued. I also collected Post Cereal baseball and football cards. They were generally cut from box backs by 10-year-olds (or their moms), and if I could find cards with fairly complete borders, I was happy. No point in looking for PSA 7's and up. (Also true of Exhibit cards, which I also collect and enjoy.) And I collected things that weren't made of cardboard -- Armour and Salada coins and '56 Topps pins. I didn't feel the need to have a TPG adjudicate the difference between Ex, ExMt, NrMt, NrMt-Mt, and Mint. Not "cards" exactly, but similar and fun.

I find that I wouldn't like to collect "modern" cards (for me, those after about 1966 or '67) that weren't in nice condition. I once had all those sets in very nice shape (before the 3rd party grading changed the hobby), and I just wouldn't enjoy owning them with creases and rounded corners.

So, what condition is acceptable in vintage cards? "Vintage" means different things to different people, but for me the answer is "Whatever floats your boat (and fits your budget)."

[wdwfan]

For me, I try to go with Ex. If I'm spending money, I want it to be something I'm proud of and not just to have to fill a set/hole in my binder. I also don't deal in graded. Strictly raw.

That said, I've bought collections before and sold off cards I needed cause they didn't meet what I was looking for. I've sold off cards that were VG-Ex or VG (and I can't tell you how many I've thrown away that had creases, wrinkles, writing, paper loss, missing corners, etc.). I know nobody collects the junky cards, so that's better than them sitting in a box.

[egri]

I'm a bit all over the place when it comes to condition. I have cards that look like they got run over that I love, and cards in great condition that I'm ambivalent about. Plus, with lowgrade cards, I know they were flipped against walls and stuck in bicycle spokes and otherwise played with; they didn't just sit in a shoebox (or visit the card doctor).

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by wdwfan

For me, I try to go with Ex. If I'm spending money, I want it to be something I'm proud of and not just to have to fill a set/hole in my binder. I also don't deal in graded. Strictly raw.

That said, I've bought collections before and sold off cards I needed cause they didn't meet what I was looking for. I've sold off cards that were VG-Ex or VG (and I can't tell you how many I've thrown away that had creases, wrinkles, writing, paper loss, missing corners, etc.). I know nobody collects the junky cards, so that's better than them sitting in a box.

For the right price, I would bet there are people who would have bought the cards you threw away. Personally, I would pass on paper loss and writing, but creases and wrinkles would be fine for me.

[wdwfan]

Not from me, or so it seems. I've tried and tried, and usually at 1/3 or more off comps. Same with buying. But it is what it is.

Originally Posted by jayshum

For the right price, I would bet there are people who would have bought the cards you threw away. Personally, I would pass on paper loss and writing, but creases and wrinkles would be fine for me.

[HOF Yankees]

50s/60s Good-EXMT myabe NM depending on player and set I am happy with low to mid grade maybe some in NM but thats few and far between. I like Raw ungraded, reason I like the card in its natural form. I use to be condition snob but when i realized how much it costs to own some of these old cards I lowered my standards a tad. I like a full in tact card with no paper loss a some creases or scratches are fine but not severe. I like to page through my binders and read the card backs and look at the fronts as well