A post-war jeremiad. collecting nm or better

[nolemmings]

What is the future for 1960's commons graded nm-mt 8? With grading costs going up dramatically it makes little sense to submit unless you’re confident a 9 is in your future, which of course is a complete crap shoot.

I’m sitting on several dozen commons graded 8 from the 60's, about half football, in roughly equal numbers of PSA and SGC. Not entirely sure why I got these, as I never would compete in a registry and I’ve never been it in for resale. I guess I just wanted nice cards in a protected holder, and would pick them up when the price was reasonable or better. I figured one day I might have them reholdered in a uniform slab, under some sort of bulk submission re-holder special that was probably always just a figment of my imagination. For now they just sit, and are in some ways an eyesore, because about half of whatever sets they represent are in binders and the other half are kept elsewhere in different slabs. Hard to enjoy (I know, first-world problems).

Anyway, I cracked open a dozen or so yesterday and put them in binders, where they display nicer and don’t occupy so much space. Now I’m trying to decide whether it’s better to unload the rest and buy nice ungraded cards, but I see that in many cases these are going as high as the slabbed versions. Maybe it would be better to just crack ‘em all open and binder them, but if so, they likely lose value and I certainly won’t pay 15 or 25 dollars a pop to resubmit them down the road if I change my mind. Anyone else facing this dilemma?

Sorry for the ramble, but the hobby has become depressing for me lately, and at times I see a closet full of stuff I just ought to sell and be finished. Part of me says that when I see more than a hundred of every card in a set available at one time, depending on how nice I want it to look, I can always pick up the collecting bug again later. Another part says I’m getting older and poorer, and the hobby is going the other direction, so I should just call it a day and enjoy the memories.

Thanks for the soapbox-- I hope to feel a little better getting this out of my system.