General Question About Collecting Vintage

[Mattzela23]

So, I enjoy collecting vintage sets and will be looking to embark on a new project soon (60s era). I've been doing my 'research' and familiarizing myself with the set, etc. As I'm doing this, I'm noticing what I feel is an 'odd' phenomena and wanted to see what help I can get towards understanding:

Raw cards I'm seeing available from reputable sellers are typically rated in standard grades VG, EXMT, NM, and (NM or better) with the usual qualifiers to check scans, ask questions, etc. PSA 6, 7, and 8s all seem to be readily available. But here's what seems a bit off to me.

Raw prices appear very high compared to the graded cards. 'VG' raw sells comparable to low PSA 6, 'EXMT' is in the high PSA 6 to low PSA 7 price range, and 'NM' raw sells near high PSA 7 prices or even more in some cases. PSA 8s seem to outpace raw cards, but raw 'NM or better' often sells well above PSA 7s. I'm well aware that dealer reputation factors in, etc. And that not all PSA 7s are 'equal'. But I am not used to seeing raw cards regularly outpace graded counterparts quite to this degree. Is it an anomaly and I've picked an unusual set or is this part of the new normal?

My goal for this project is to put together a 'high-grade' set. The median graded card for the set is a PSA 7, so my goal would be NM or better. Would you just target graded cards, raw cards to submit and grade, or ungraded raw? For the prices, I'm leaning towards already graded...

Thanks for any opinions and information you can offer!