Looking for 1972 BB set advice

minibeers

Howdy all,

I started collecting again about 6 months ago and have had a fast learning experience with getting cards graded. Overall, I've had a great experience (got a PSA 10 1977 Rose out of my last bunch I sent in!) and I'm learning more everyday.

One of the first things I did when I got back in to collecting was to purchase a 1972 complete set that was advertised as NRMT TO MINT on ebay (can you say "sucker"?). Well, after getting the best cards graded and buying some REAL NRMT raw cards from some great dealers, I have come to the conclusion I got hosed big time on this set (it is more like EX to NRMT with some worse). I got a PSA 7 Willie Mays as my best grade when I got the cards back. I think I have a few other cards that might grade out an 8 or 9 but other than that, the set is 60% NRMT and the rest is garbage in my opinion.

So, I gutted the set and I've been thinking about selling the crap and rebuilding the it. Everytime I look at the cards, it burns me a bit and I don't want to keep anything less than NRMT. Of course, I'll need most of the high numbers as a lot of those are lame.

The advice I'm looking for is, should I keep all the cards to have a complete set and upgrade as I go or should I sell the crap now and rebuild? I know the answer is a personal one but I've been waffling on this and I don't want to sell the bad cards if all I'm going to get is a couple hundred bucks out of the effort. See, I'm waffling again. I guess I'm looking for philosophy, style and an approach to this based on your experience. What would you do if someone gave you this set (or you paid $1,500 for it like I did).

No regrets as I've learned an expensive lesson, but now what?

Thanks in advance!
Scott

mcastaldi

minibeers> Welcome. . .and I think the 1972 set is an excellent choice. From your post, I had a hard time understanding if you wanted to build the 72 set in graded or ungraded form. Each has their own unique rewards. I happen to be working on both a graded set in PSA8 or better - and an ungraded set in what I call NM+.

The graded set is all PSA8 or PSA9 cards that meet my standards for the grade.

The ungraded set is probably about 50-60% complete. It tends to be made up of the cards that I considered submitting for PSA8s and were "close but not quite" or were simply duplicates. There are cards in there that would grade out PSA8 - and there are other cards that would otherwise be 8OC or 9OC. The ungraded set lets me put together a set of cards that I feel look decent - even if they'd have qualifiers. I can do it at my own pace and budget.

I think if you want to build a high-quality set, graded or ungraded, I think one of the best things you can do is to go to shows and look through as much nice material as you can. With effort and patience, I think you'll quickly come to learn the subtle differences that seperate a NM card from a NM/MT card from a MT card.

If you'd like, there's more info I could give pertaining to building a graded 72 set. There are plenty of people on the forums who will be more than happy to help with any questions you have.

Mike

minibeers

Thanks, Mike. I'm really going for an ungraded set with the key cards graded as I can afford to get them graded or buy them pregraded. I think the 1972 set has so many hallmarks going for it (largest set of the era, first in action cards, first traded cards, first [and thankfully, last] award cards) and I love the design. I showed off some of the cards to a non-collector friend of mine and the first thing he said was, "Did Peter Max design these? They look straight out of Yellow Submarine." I had never really made that connection before but since then, what other inspiration could the Topps designers have had (besides LSD)? Very cool set.
Scott

FB

minibeers,

Yes.... it is VERY tough to determine whether a complete set being sold on eBay actually is in the NRMT to Mint kind of shape as advertised. I've bought 7 of them like that - I've been happy with 5. One of them went from MINT to EX between the time I bought it and the time it arrived. Luckily, the dealer honored the refund and I didn't have to call VISA. Its always easiest if the auction shows very high end scans. Two of the best sets that I bought were listed as NM+. And one of those yielded 320 - 8's and 133 - 9's including 4 hall of famers (Killebrew, Palmer, Perry and Wilhelm).

I also passed on a NM-MT+ 72 set on eBay one time because the seller had 16 Negs out of 1000 and all for overgrading. The set sold for $2000 and was won by a friend of mine at work. When she told me show won, I cringed becaue of the guys feedback. When she go it, she brought it in and sure enough - the set was NM-MT to doggone nuts MINT - but not the key cards. So, as her attention moved on to other sets, she offered me the set for $1500 since none of the HOF'ers would do better than 7. I pulled a lot of tough 8's from that set including the Frank Baker, Wayne Garrett, Alan Gallagher and Ken Henderson.

I have to second Mike's advice. You absolute best bet is to go to shows and upgrade only using high end cards. But.... not knowing where you're located or whether you have any major shows in your area (Mike is in the Chicago area and I'm between New York and Philadelphia) another way that you may consider is buying ANOTHER raw set listed as NM or better.

This was how I started building my raw sets when I first joined eBay. By buying 2 - 72 sets and comparing card by card, I upgraded my set and downgraded the set that I was going to sell. Sometimes I upgraded and even made money because my ad was more informative than the info in the original ad - so the bidders stayed away.

minibeers

Thanks, Frank. I have thought about buying another set but I'm afraid my wife will go ape. However, if I flip the low end set shortly after getting another one, she should be OK.

Thanks for the great post.
Scott