News From SGC

[Jay Wolt]

Here are a few reasons other than resale: set registries, protection, good looks.

...and uniformity.
If one is collecting a 1933 Goudey set you would want more then just the Babe Ruth
& Lou Gehrig cards slabbed, many would want them all looking the same even if you don't
utilize PSA or SGC's registry.

[barrysloate]

Eric- I guess I've never understood the attraction of the registry. It just seems like a goofy concept to me. Sure, if you have the best set in the hobby I suppose that carries some weight. But who cares if you have the 14th best one? I know the registry is popular, I'm just not a fan.

[Ease]

Its just a way to show off your collection and "compete" with others I guess, similar to the pick-up thread here etc. I personally am not interested either, but some folks go gah-gah over jumping up/down in rank, to each his/her own...

[Leon]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Eric- I guess I've never understood the attraction of the registry. It just seems like a goofy concept to me. Sure, if you have the best set in the hobby I suppose that carries some weight. But who cares if you have the 14th best one? I know the registry is popular, I'm just not a fan.

Barry- Here is my take. Don't think of the registry as baseball card collecting. It isn't. It is a game unto itself. In those terms everything fits well. It's its own game. Very simple. Who can collect the highest number on their plastic wins!!

[HRBAKER]

I don't get the attraction either. Nor have I ever considered the Net54 Monthly Pick-Up thread a competition either. The hobby has passed me by.

[barrysloate]

Good take on it Leon. The way registry sets are collected really is a hobby of its own. And yes, some people do like to compete. When I collected it was a personal thing; I did it for my own enjoyment. I knew some people had a better collection than me, and mine was better than some others. I didn't think about it any more than that.

[Jay Wolt]

Not everyone who's in the registry is doing it for the competition.
I have several sets in PSA & SGC's registry, I can quickly see what
cards I have, what I need and if I should upgrade and what fellow
collectors are doing the same set.

In one of my mid 60's sets on PSA, I'm about 40% and my ranking is #50
so there's 49 people ahead of me and probably about the same behind me.
It doesn't affect me if my set drops a few notches or if I gain a few spots.
There are probably more people using the registries that have this mind set
then the ones that are out for cut-throat competition to advance their #'s

[Robextend]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

Not everyone who's in the registry is doing it for the competition. I have several sets in PSA & SGC's registry, I can quickly see what cards I have, what I need and if I should upgrade and what fellow collectors are doing the same set.

+1

[bijoem]

If this has become a grading vs. raw thread.....

put my vote in for 'grading' 100%.

Its not that I care about a grade. Its not that I care about a registry.


It is completely about taking the arrogance and power away from individual dealers. My recollection of the hobby before TPG.... card dealers at shows were somewhat arrogant (all of their cards were 'mint' even if they were EX) - and they all were individual 'authorities'.

Since those days I have met many wonderful, honorable, and trustworthy hobby dealers.

But - I think it is important for a properly functioning hobby to separate the 'grading' from the dealers.

For the same reason - this is why I never like hearing that a grading company is actively involved in selling cards.


As far as SGC.....
it looks like way too many inside people are running for the exit in a short period of time. An eyebrow raiser at least.

[Al C.risafulli]

Interesting perspective, Leon. I've got some sets on various registries, but I've never thought of myself as not being a card collector before.

To me, there are lots of different ways to collect. I could be a team collector, a player collector, a type collector, a set collector, a HOF collector, a graded card collector, a raw collector, a high-grade collector, a low-grade collector, a registry collector. It's all card collecting to me.

Registries have some cool components that have injected a lot of new enjoyment into the hobby for me. I'm not sure where my sets rank - probably pretty low - but I know I like having them on the net in a well-displayed sort of way. I also like the fact that by being on registries, I wind up meeting other people who collect the same sets I do - that's helped me fill in some spaces in my collection, and make a few good friends along the way. I like being able to track my progress when completing a set, and - thanks to mobile technology - to be able to access my sets remotely to see which cards I need. I like being able to scroll through scans on the SGC registry, and I like being able to see pop report data on the PSA registry.

I guess I never understood the desire on the part of some people to disparage ways of collecting that are different from their own. THAT is the only piece of this hobby that I don't get.

Sorry to hijack.

-Al

[E93]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

Not everyone who's in the registry is doing it for the competition.
I have several sets in PSA & SGC's registry, I can quickly see what
cards I have, what I need and if I should upgrade and what fellow
collectors are doing the same set.

+1
JimB

[DJR]

.

[J.McMurry]

Barry, I asked my pet unicorn about the possibility of people deciding now to simply grade their own cards; he agreed with you

lol, Jeff could you ask the unicorn to weigh in on the set registries and /or the economy turning around anytime soon?