The good ol days of collecting "raw" cards VS. modern day PSA

SUPERPUNK813

Does anyone still collect raw/ungraded cards anymore? Neil Downey put up a thread wanting a few 1972's to finnish off his "raw" set so got out some of my binders to see if i could help him out. I hadn't looked through these binders in a few years becouse i've only been collecting PSA cards since about 1997 and as i went through these "raw" cards i started to remember all the fun i had putting "raw" sets together before the days of PSA. I love PSA cards and i think it's great for the hobby to be able to buy a card over the phone becouse you know what a PSA 8 looks like but i still think grading has taken at least a little FUN out of the hobby for me.

So my question is: Does anyone one these boards still put together raw/ungraded sets anymore? And if so, why do you still build "raw" sets when PSA cards are everywhere.


Paul.

dstudeba

Most of my cards are raw and will remain raw. I have been wanting to start a thread for a while titled "where do you keep all your PSA cards?". Living in coastal Southern California I don't have room for much of anything, so my rule is that all my graded cards must fit in a shoebox. I therefore am limited to around 50 cards. I am slowly picking up 1950 bowmans just trying to complete the set for fun at a very low price per card. As a raw set it will allow me to keep the whole thing in a shoebox, and I can sort through them much more easily. Since the condition is pretty poor and I paid so little for them, I don't have to worry about the condition.

jvineyard

I finished my run of raw Topps and Philly football sets a few years ago, but I'm still working on various raw baseball sets - 1963 and 1965 at the moment. I try to finish at least one raw vintage set each year. I'll probably finish '63 in 2004 and maybe '65 as well. I also put together a few modern sets in both football and baseball every year just to satisfy that urge to build sets.

My PSA set collecting is kind of a replacement for building vintage football sets.

dbj77

I love raw sets. I have raw sets of 1972, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1965, 1964, 1959 topps baseball. 1955, 1951, 1952 bowman baseball. 1961 Fleer basketball, 1960, 1961 fleer baseball. And I have almost every Star Co. set from 1983- 1991 in bags from both basketball and baseball. I have tons of other raw cards too, all in binders.

I don't see putting together a 500+ card graded set as financially reasonable. Plus I would have no way of displaying it as I collect cards to enjoy not as a financial investment.

I use PSA to encapsulate smaller sets like Red Man and Kelloggs that I collect and player sets.

Skycap

Paul said "I still think grading has taken at least a little FUN out of the hobby for me."

To me, the combination of PSA and the Internet, particularly Ebay, has made this a much more enjoyable hobby. They're the reason I got back in the hobby after being out of it for about 10 years. I remember the pre-Internet days when we largely had to depend on Sports Collectors Digest as a source for cards (aside from conventions). I cancelled my subscription to SCD after finding out I could get it at a local newsstand every Friday afternoon -- a few days before the subscribers received it in the mail. Even so, I remember calling advertisers and being disappointed that the cards I wanted had already been sold. In those days one could not see the cards beforehand, so virtually every purchase was a "blind" purchase, which is very perilous in this condition-sensitive hobby. I recall being so excited to receive raw cards in the mail, only to be followed so many times by bitter disappointment when the condition was less -- often much less -- than described.

I think these are the good old days!

Skycap

miami3

Skycap,

Great post, I used to do the same thing that you did but ended up having my SCD sent via Federal Express next day air to try and buy some of the cards listed before anyone else saw them.

I too have all raw sets from 58-80 that I collected over the years, but now have turned to collecting graded cards as I found it next to impossible to find any nice raw cards our there to work on any additional vintage sets.

Ebay has also saved me a lot of time going to card shops and card shows looking through thousand of common bins looking for that needle in the haystack.

The good old days are the present for most of us, enjoy your health, family, and friends cause lifes too short.

Jim

onegaucho

I have a 1973 Topps set I got from a Superior auction in raw condition that I love. I also have several 1959 Topps Thrills cards in raw condition. With the autheticity issues, I have all my T206s graded (and for the protection that the case provides- I've actually dropped them a few times on accident!)

I buy modern packs every once in a while just to stay current and I just don't see the point in getting them graded unless it's a true RC (but with literally 20+ 'sets', what's a 'true' RC anymore??)

dstudeba- collecting raw 1950s? That was my first vintage set I ever collected. Still have most of them raw except for the HOFers. Awesome set eh?

robstar

Paul

I keep raw set's of my childhood years , 1970-71 to 73-74 OPC hockey. These cards are all in the PSA 6 - 7 range so really do not warrant grading. I really enjoy being able to handle the cards, on some of them I swear I can still smell the gum. I keep these very accessible for when those moments come around when the hobby seems nothing more than a computer screen, a mailbox and plastic slabs I can pull them out give them a sniff and all seems right again.

I wonder how often people here take the time to pull out their graded collections and look at them. While few may be able to display some or all of their collection, I'd bet that most do not. For security reasons alone, I'm sure most are understandably under lock and key.

Have you sniffed a raw card lately

Rob..

SUPERPUNK813

Rob said - "I really enjoy being able to handle the cards, on some of them I swear I can still smell the gum. I keep these very accessible for when those moments come around when the hobby seems nothing more than a computer screen, a mailbox and plastic slabs"


Thats what i ment when i said grading has taken a little of the fun out of collecting. I still love the hobby but it has just changed so much since i was a kid.


Paul.

Skycap

Rob,

Good point. I also confess to being a member of the Card Sniffers Society. I have a four or five inch stack of 50's and 60's vintage raw cards that are not PSA-worthy but are kept around so I can periodically smell and fondle them. Sometimes when we have guests, I'll bring them out and people will be very impressed! They are not told about my PSA collection, carefully hidden away.

To paraphrase Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now: I love the smell of gum cards in the morning.

Skycap

downgoesfrazier

"cardsniffers society"...what a riot! Anyway, I collect a graded '77 set but my best set is most likely my 78 or 81 Donruss (yes, it's true)--and they're raw. I also am working on a monster set of 77's--raw! I prefer the cards that way. I will likely not do another graded set on the issues I build complete. For vintage cards I would likely only purchase graded copies as the expense and possibility of altered cards is too great. Great post!

dgf

dstudeba

onegaucho - yes, I love the 50-52 Bowmans. I look forward to meeting up with you if we both go to the Hollywood show to pick your brain about the set. Otherwise maybe we can meet around here. I live in IB, work in Sorrento Valley, and spend a lot of time in PB. The 50 bowman football is wicked cool too.

mikeschmidt

I think a majority of pre-war cards look better "raw" than in graded card holders. I am a certified member of the card-sniffers society. Sniffing a 95-year old T card is something else. They often just don't look right being in a modern holder anyway.

GoSoxBoSox

Almost everything I own is still raw....and staying raw. In my opinion the only cards worth grading are cards that are very high priced or cards you're looking to sell. I'm a collector...not a seller.

qualitycards

I have a couple of sets that are ungraded like the '66 baseball, '76 Basketball & '61 Nu Card football. The '66 baseball wouldn't warrant the expense of grading since most would grade PSA-4 to PSA-6, but in a binder they still are presentable and remind me of the condition when we collected as kids as all we cared was checking off the checklist. The '61 Nu Card set came about when I submitted cards to PSA and only submitted the surefire 8 quality and higher cards, so I sorted out the "reject" pile and have almost a full set, addded a wrapper and some college decals that were inserted in the packs and its a nice representation. The '76 Basketball set was easy as Larry offered it to me at a reasonable price (cheaper then what he won 2 of my PSA-9 'common 76's for on eBay), I put them all in card saver IV's w/ the wrapper and its impressive and at 1/10th the size of those large PSA holders...jay

jimtb

That smell of gum when opening a pack of Topps is a great childhood memory. A graded card is nice, but it doesn't compare to the feel of actually holding the card. Remember when cards were not coated in thick gloss and half an inch thick?

Fabfrank

Except for the sets I'm working on for the Registry and my graded players runs (RC - Final Card), all my other sets are in raw form. Topps Baseball from 71 and up. Topps Football from 78- and up. Donruss, Fleer, Score, Ultra, Stadium Club, Leaf, SP and SP Authentic from their premiere years on up.
I think I need to cut back

SUPERPUNK813

Like i said before i love graded cards but im glad to see im not the only one who still loves the look and feel of those EXMT cards from the 1950's and 60's. The first two vintage sets i put together (in the mid 1990's) were the 1955 Bowman Baseball set and the 1954 Parkhurst Hockey set and i had about $2k in the 55 Bowman set and it was awesome EXMT/NM set accross the board, today you couldnt buy the Mantle and Aaron in PSA 8 for that!


Paul.

mrc32

I am still a much larger raw fan than graded. I have my 54 Topps set and am slowly working on raw 1970 and 1960 Topps. But I found that with my budget I just pick up a few of my T's when I can and have them graded.

MS- I agree that the T's look better raw, but I have found that so many on ebay have been alterted that grading them is the best option. I just wish PSA would start making holders with a black insert. Those inserts really make T-205s look grand!

qualitycards

<< <i>Remember when cards were not coated in thick gloss and half an inch thick? >>


How bout those Chrome cards that topps makes in their Topps & Bowman products? You leave fingerprints on them every time you touch them. ..jay

theplasticman

I just plain dig all my cards. Good thing to spend some time on and relieve stress from the day job. Going to a show this weekend to look around and enjoy myself.

sellerman23

How funny!
I can't believe that you brought up the sniffing!
I cracked some 1983 Topps racks last night and they smelled great!!!
Seems each year has a different odor. This summer I sent in a bunch of 1952's to get slabbed and remembered smelling them for what I thought could be the last time ever.
My girlfriend gives me a hard time about the smelling of my cards when she catches me doing it.
I don't know if anyone has ever seen the old "Star Trek" episode where there was a 1965 Maris in a glass case and supposedly it still smelled like gum. I never saw the show, I just heard about it.

As far as the set-building goes, I just started 1983 and am having a great time opening the racks, etc. Really brings me back to when I first started collecting in 1987 and all of my cards were from packs.
Even though I plan on grading the set, I am having a blast organizing the cards and putting thm into a binder.

Dave
sellerman23

aro13

I like the fact that now I can work on complete PSA graded sets and continue to upgrade my raw sets. I am working on complete hockey sets from 66-67 to the present. All of the commons are raw. Occasionally I will send in the rookies to have them graded but I will probably never send in the commons. The cards are easy to look at in the binders and even the EX-EXMT cards look good in binders as people are scanning through them.

estang

I have raw Topps baseball sets from 1970 to present, including traded that I keep in team binders in alphabetical order by player's last name. I go back to 1961 for Minnesota Twins. I've found that a 3" binder will hold a 20 year span of Topps baseball well, so I have one binder for 1970 to 1989 and the next for 1990 to present.

I have a near-complete run of Topps football yet to be paged and bindered from 1975 to present. One day, I'd like to get 1970 to 1974 complete and make that a project with my son.

So the majority of my collection is raw, including some Conlon sets and Topps re-prints from 53 and 54.

Only in the last year have I been collecting graded cards of Rod Carew, 1977 to 1980 Topps Baseball All-Stars and I'm looking to build a complete run of graded Minnesota Vikings from 1961 to 1979 in a minimum grade of 7 with generally running 8 or 9.

I like to display the graded cards in my office and then keep the binders to page through and see how the teams changed from year to year.

jmullen

Most of my cards are raw because they are either 1) too poor to be graded; or, alternatively, 2) the companies don't have holder's for them. For vintage basketball cards, there is no graded pre-1970 non-mainstream stuff ... it does not exist.

theBobs

Most of my T and E cards are raw.

I agree the biggest change is availability to cards through the internet (ebay, contact with other collectors, dealers, and auctions).

goodriddance189

grading has taken some of the fun out of collecting because it's a lot quicker and more cost effective to build ungraded sets. but on the flip side, my graded sets are a lot higher quality (psa 8 or higher for every card i own), and the thrill of finding scarce graded cards makes it a fun challenge.

scottsusor

Just some thoughts. Having been active in the baseball card hobby since I was 10 (1969), I've pretty much seen it all, good, bad, and ugly. When card grading first started up, I was 100% disgusted, saying I'd never submit a card for grading and never collect anything that was slabbed. But as I see it now, card grading has had a very positive impact on the baseball card hobby. I still would not actively collect graded cards and all my sets 1950-2004 are ungraded, but I can understand and accept the portion of the hobby that does actively collect graded cards.

The most positive impact of card grading, as I see it, is a more uniform standard for ALL collectors to accurately rate the cards they are offering for sale. Many times, a card is now described in terms of PSA 5 level or PSA 8 level or whatever, which hopefully means they understand what "Excellent" or "NM-MT" means. Of course, there's always a margin for error and/or opinion but overall I think its raised the level of awareness on condition.

On a personal level, I've always been somewhat of a "hunter" in terms of looking for better and better condition and centering to upgrade my own collection. As such, I've found that during these "hunts" I can also look for high-grade cards to submit to PSA simply to re-sell (usually via eBay) in order to finance my own collecting interests. I know I'm not the only one doing this, but I may be the only one doing it more for fun than profit.

To answer the question, I believe that baseball card collecting has essentially split into collectors of graded and ungraded cards. The graded card collectors are certainly (or should be) the more monied segment because it takes a lot more coin to remain active as a collector or graded cards. Plus, I don't think that most of the graded card collectors have the time needed to "hunt" like I do, and like collectors of ungraded cards do. Some do, of course, but I'd judge that to be a minority. And I think it will stay that way, simply due to the different motivation of collecting graded vs. ungraded.

Scott

spacktrack

I only collect raw cards seriously and only in low grade, too! This allows me to work on sets from 1951 Topps to the present. I have complete sets from 1973-2003 in raw form. 1973-1985 are all hand built. 1986-2003 are factory sets. I have extensive wantlists from 1951 to 1972 in hopes of some day completing my Topps run and moving to Bowman and Fleer.

I absolutely low the raw set building. I love having piles of cards spilling off my desk waiting to be put in binders. I never know what type of shape a card will come to me in and that's exciting to me. Right now, I am building sets in any condition and as time goes on and I have the bulk of the late 50s and the 60s sets done, I will work on upgrading. This will be done from 1980 backwards. My sets from 1981-2003 are in NM-MT condition. 1980 is where they start to get hairy.

Raw set building is also great for me because all my 50 sets in progress can fit in one room and be taken out for display or examination at any time. I have about 13 of my sets in binders and the rest in boxes.

This is a great thread for me to again make this appeal:

I will be more than happy to buy any poor condition, low grade card that you want to sell. I love working bulk deals for commons in poor to vg shape. I can fill in holes in my sets and then be left with trade fodder. I still am an active trader of low grade sportscards. I do not typically trade quid pro quo for low grade cards. I like to just let things happen and if I have 20 cards for you and you have 5 for me, most of the time that's OK. I don't mind sending out the extras I have because I hope that someone when you have extras, you'll remember to pass them back around.

It's great fun and a fantastic time collecting these raw sets.

toppsgun

It makes sense to collect both graded and ungraded sets. High graded vintage sets should be graded for investment purposes and for safety/security reasons. I was fooling around with some of my raw cards the other day, looking for potential submissions and I damaged one of my 1967 semi-highs. Had it already been slabbed, that wouldn't have happened. What was a borderline candidate for a slab is now forever relagated to the 9-pocket page.

Mid grade vintage sets and all "modern" sets (however one defines them) should be kept in raw form for the pure enjoyment of it. Including the sniffing, if that's what floats your boat. It doesn't make sense to spend $5 to grade a $0.10 common.

By "diversifying" one's sets, if either market "crashes" (don't laugh tulip, dot.com chasers...it could happen), you've still got a collectible asset. Or if you ever decide to sell and raise cash, you can always keep one portfolio.

peterredshoes

Awesome thread. The thing that strikes me most is that it reveals that there's fun to be had in every niche of the hobby--graded, raw, old, new, etc.

For myself, I'm still mainly a raw collector. Delving into graded cards provides me with an opportunity to explore a new field of card collecting through the common theme of a favorite player. Recently I've also been branching out a little from Alan Trammell cards and started putting together the easier WNBA sets in raw form, which has been fun as well.

Bottom line--whether raw or graded, card sniffing or card slabbing, it's tough to go wrong if you follow your fancies and don't set unnecessary boundaries on your collection.

Peter G.

Fabfrank

Welcome to the boards Peter.

minibeers

This is a great thread! I'm glad I'm not alone. For a while, I thought that everybody on the boards collected slabbed cards and I was a little pip-squeak with my raw stuff.

I collect 1966 raw and I'm 26 cards away from completion. about 50 of the cards (stars and highs) are PSA simply because I got burned on a trimmed card during my first submission to PSA. After that, I will not buy high dollar cards that are not graded unless I'm buying from a very reputable source.

My Pete Rose Basic set is all PSA and is sort of my "investment" set. If I need to get my money back out of it with no profit, that is fine with me. The "interest" is my fun collecting them.

For pure collecting fun, I like to collect goofy cards from the 50's in EX or higher condition. I have been known to buy PSA 5s and crack them just because they seem to look better without the grade. I don't plan on selling these, they are just for fun. I like cards like the 52 Topps Gus Zernial, the 52 Clyde King (how did that guy pitch being crosseyed?) and the 54 O'Brien Brothers card. I'm going to start another thread on this because I want to know about other goofy cards.

My 1977 set was put together out of wax packs last year. It is all raw except for about 5 cards I sent in (my Rose came back a 10!). After I finish 1966 I'm moving on to 1963, so watch out!

cheers,
minibeers

Ruthfan

I am currently working on a raw 1959 Topps set in NM/MT condition. I have most of the star cards and I have close to 400 of the commons and semi-star cards. It makes it tough when you are trying to complete a high grade set in raw form due to many high grade commons already resting in slabs. I have been fortunate to find alot of the high numbers in NM/MT condition and centered as I am pretty picky on the centering of the cards in this set. I won't accept a card with less than 60-40 centering.

The problem with the raw cards that are left and in high grade condition is that alot of dealers are trying to get graded card prices for them. I have been working on the set for about 4 years now and I hope to have it completed within the next two years.

Todd

The53Kid

RuthFan, I have a question for ya(or anyone else who wants to chime in)

As a raw set builder buying NM/MT cards, what are you using for determining your buy prices. I figure most people are using Beckett for raw. But Beckett has all those calculations in the front, where you need to multiple by 150% if the grade is higher or the year is older. So I'm never really sure what is the going rate for very nice raw commons.

Anyone else want to give me an idea of what 60's and 70's NM/MT raw commons sell for at shows?

Thanks

jimtb

53 Kid,
I was at the Orlando show last weekend and was shocked at how few dealers were selling raw cards. We get very few shows here in Orlando, so I had higher expectations. Without the net, raw set builders down here would have a hard time filling sets.
Jim

The53Kid

Jim,

I concur that show dealers with raw cards for sale are not very plentiful. So I'll expand my question to include prices for raw bought via the internet. Whether it be on EBAY or from well know raw dealers(Mickey's, Norty).

Thanks!

scottsusor

Speaking of dealers selling raw vintage at shows, I mentioned in another thread that the "big" Houston Tri-Star show was last weekend. I was truly amazed at how "small" this show has gotten in the last few years. There were maybe 40 total dealers, only a few years ago there were probably 80+. Lots of open space in the George R. Brown convention center that used to be completely filled wall to wall. And only five dealers were selling raw vintage commons. Of those five, only two had really taken the time to grade out and price their cards accurately. I was only looking at 1964-1970 cards and I was paying $2 each on the low end and $8 on the high end for NM-MT commons in those years. I did pick up a couple of the "legendary" cards -- a 1965 #22 Charlie Smith that should get an 8 or better and a 1969 #52 Mike Andrews that an easy 9 -- both well centered. So the trip was a success but still very disappointing as to the number of dealers selling vintage raw commons.

Scott

downgoesfrazier

minibeers,
You 'da man! I love doing 77 baseball. I have a graded set, but I'm more into my raw set these days. Would you have interest in trading or upgrading, etc? Literally hundreds of Mint, eye-appealing cards over here that have accumulated over the years. Email me as I have needs for my graded set as well as my raw. Most of my cards are from racks/vending but there are a handful of wax in there too.
The first wax box I broke coughed up a whopping SIX mint cards! OUCH!

Email me if you'd like to do something on 77s...

dgf

minibeers

dgf, I would love to do some 77 horse trading. I'll PM you.

minibeers

scratch that. I'll email you.

toppsgun

Scottsusor, I was at the Tri Star show. I can only remember four dealers selling vintage commons, unless you're counting Moe from Louisville. BTW, if you don't mind saying, at which table did you find the '65 Smith? If it's an 8, you hit the jackpot.

marty

My normall set up at a show is between 30,000 and 40,000 singles from 1949 to 1979. I do this in California and Arizona, where I live. I have all of my cards individually sleeved and priced. When I fly to a show, Fort Washington for example, I cannot take bulky inventory with me. I will end up with a different set up than I would like to have. Some dealers are able to drive to every show, and many will fly. I have a regular full time job and have to fit 10 major shows into my work schedule, so I cannot drive across country for shows. I am starting to go through my inventory and pull some high grade cards so that I can have some nice commons to travel with. I am starting with 1962 baseball. I am going through 5000 commons. I will still have a limited amount of space and weight that I can put on a plane.
I think that the number of dealers that have to fly to some of the major shows, Houston and Orlando, will have a large effect on commons to go through.

Buccaneer

This will probably make me more of an outcast but I don't see any (financial) justification for having completed PSA sets of the big Topps years. I have been learning a lot over the past few months, once I get back into the hobby after a 15 yr hiatus. What I decided to do is to have completed sets from 1960 to 1971 (1970 has been done for decades). I had very few cards from 1961-1967 in my original collection so that was what I wanted to buy.

In looking at the prices on eBay, SMR and online dealers, I learned something interesting. For the grades that I want to collect (NM - NMMT commons, EXMT-NMMT stars), the value of the raw and PSA star cards are comparable. I bought a 65 Rose in PSA 7 for about what I would a raw NM card. Same thing with a 68 Ryan. Now comes the controversial part, I don't see any reason to pay $10.50 for PSA 7 (say, 1964 common) when I can pick up the exact card in NM from Mickey's for less than $1.50. Even if someone would to doubt that it's a NM, I could buy a NMMT version for $2.00. For 1969T, the disparity is even greater. Everyone says to buy the card not the slab. I don't have a lot of money to spend (esp. since I hadn't planned on getting back into collecting). I placed two $200 orders with Mickey's last month and got a little over 160 NM-NMMT common/minors cards that looked really nice. If I was foolish enough to be collecting PSA 7 and 8 commons, I would only had received about 12-16 cards. Which do you think would get me closer to my goal? I love the few star PSA cards I have and I look forward to getting some more (actually, all of them) but a raw NM or NMMT common looks just as a good in a top loader as it would in a PSA slab, only at a fraction of the price.

scottsusor

<< <i>Scottsusor, I was at the Tri Star show. I can only remember four dealers selling vintage commons, unless you're counting Moe from Louisville. BTW, if you don't mind saying, at which table did you find the '65 Smith? If it's an 8, you hit the jackpot. >>



Hi toppsgun,

Three were right at the door as you came in, but I don't recall their names -- except the first guy on the right I remember was from Colorado. His selection was top shelf and that's where I snatched up the NM- MT '65 #22 Charlie Smith among others. The second booth in on the left had a nice selection too -- that's where I picked up the NM-MT '69 #52 Mike Andrews. The other ones that had vintage commons were spread out -- one at the front third aisle, one on the first aisle left side further down, and one in approximately the middle of the room. But those three had lots of EX-MT and NM but very few NM-MT.

BTW, I put the '65 Smith under my 20x microscope when I got home and its a beauty -- no doubt an 8 and close to a 9 if I catch a kind grader on a good day maybe -- centering off just enough to keep it from being a 10.

Scott

Basilone

<< <i>BTW, I put the '65 Smith under my 20x microscope when I got home and its a beauty -- no doubt an 8 and close to a 9 if I catch a kind grader on a good day maybe -- centering off just enough to keep it from being a 10. >>



Scott-

Just wondering...did the dealer know it has a "hot card" and charge you accordingly for it? Or did you pick it up for say a couple of bucks?

PSARich

I have been putting together ungraded sets of baseball cards in NM-MT condition for the last twelve years 1952 - 1975. I only send in cards to PSA that I believe will receive a 9 except HOFers that I want slabbed in lesser grades. I have sets about 75%+ complete from 1964 to 1969 and nearly complete 1970-1975. 1952 -1955 I do collect in EX+-NM, but from 1956-1963 it's gotta be NM-MT. You would be surprised how many NM-MT cards you can pick up a large shows if you are willing to look and ask. At the 2002 National I spent about $500 on 1960-1967 commons and more in NM-MT+ condition, all 50% off Beckett. I got about 40 PSA 9's from that lot, including several HOFers and semi-stars. Just recently at Gilbrater (near Detroit) I picked up about 50 NM-MT 1964-65's including a 1964 Rose, Gibson, and a 1965 Robinson and Brock. Paid less than 50% for the lot. I also have PSA sets (PSA Rich on the registry), the majority of which are mine, but I am buying more on ebay. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of completing sets in NM-MT condition as well as in PSA 9. If you get the word out that you are a collector, quite often people will offer cards to you from "grandpa's attic", etc. Picked up quit a few old 1950's cards that way. I always offer a fair price and suggest they check out other sources before they sell. Great thread!

scottsusor

<< <i>Just wondering...did the dealer know it has a "hot card" and charge you accordingly for it? Or did you pick it up for say a couple of bucks? >>



I don't think this dealer, nor most others, pay attention to anything "common" when it comes to PSA graded stuff. He was PSA-savvy because we talked at length about PSA grading and he had lots of PSA graded "star" cards for sale. So I'd have to say that he had no clue whatsoever about the "legendary status" of the '65 Smith card.

I think it would be fair to say that the majority of dealers cannot justify the time it takes to keep abreast of low pop PSA commons. After all, its always changing based on submissions. The '65 Smith is certainly one of the "Holy Grail" class and perhaps justifies at least passing knowledge of it by dealers, but I'm happy that this one didn't know.

It was in a stack of sleeved '65 Topps cards that he had already pulled from his mass boxes and graded himself as NM-MT. I paid $8 for it.

Scott