1975,76,77 complete Topps sets ? To grade all, or not to grade?
MCMLVTopps
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I have a friend who has the subject sets sleeved and in ringed binders, he did this shortly after buying the sets. It is my understanding that he bought them new and, although I have not seen the cards, I'm told they are in excellent condition. He is not a board member, nor familiar with grading, other than my telling him the important facets of grading, corners, centering, marks, etc.
So...time has come for him to consider selling. After some discussion, he is thinking of having the star cards within each set graded, then sell the sets. He is vaguely aware of cost, time and patience to endure the grading process. It is my opinion that he should have all 3 sets graded, then sell. I'm told he can afford such an expense. While grading the stars may improve the overall market value of the set, maybe not, as opposed to selling the graded stars individually, but then you no longer have sets, you have hundreds of cards. It is also my opinion that IF the cards are in such excellent condition, that a PSA graded set will bring a premium price, especially a 75,76,77 set. The cost is stiff, but the return may double or triple his investment. Selling the sets raw is not a strong consideration, but always a possibility.
Imagine getting those boxes back from PSA!!!
Tks
Comments/opinions welcome.
Comments
I don’t think it makes much sense to have the entire sets graded. The likelihood is that even if they were built from packs or vending boxes and are unhandled, there will be many, many cards that are OC and not worth the cost of grading. And grading only the commons that really are potential 9/10 candidates would also seem kind of odd if selling as a set. I think grading only the stars is a pretty reasonable plan. $8000 per set in grading fees and waiting months and months doesn’t sound too appealing.
I collect AS cards from these years and I agree with PaulMaul. Brett, Rose, Ryan, etc. (for example) are definitely worth it if they are in solid shape. This being said, almost any PSA 10 could be valuable but they are tough to attain. PSA 9, not so much. Good luck with it!
And especially with the ‘75 and ‘77 sets, even getting a 9 is far from a slam dunk.
I would not grade a single card. In my experience after spending the time and money for grading the return is actually less than just selling the set raw. Really high grade sets will bring great results with no problem. Let the market dictate where it should go. I have seen raw 1975 Topps sets sell in high grade in the $1200-1500 range if the stars are nice. The 1976 and 1977 Topps sets are decent but they are going to bring $400 in really nice shape. Obviously if the 1976 Topps George Brett was centered and could grade 8 or higher the set would bring even more money.
Let the buyer take the risk and spend the money on grading
Here’s maybe what I would do.
Research.
Go through articles on the pop report pages, read what the toughest cards are in the set, and see how your cards match up. For that matter, go through the pop reports for your respective sets and see what the roughest cards have been to get graded, and see how your cards match up against the pictures of what’s been graded.
I would then grade a couple of those, and include them with your set, which you could sell for a lot more now.
I’ll tell you right now, a ‘76 centered George Brett in high grade will absolutely give his rookie a run for its money if not go for more.
Heck if his 75 set looks immaculate I’ll buy it! Lol.
GL!