1974 Topps Baseball

Gatorbait

I've been thinking about diving into this set - the first I collected as a kid. I've placed bids on a couple of complete, ungraded sets, but have been unsuccessful. My thought was to purchase a complete, ungraded set and then upgrade. I'd love to hear from some of the '74 guys on the best way to go about collecting this set. I hesitate to buy graded b/c: (1) more $, (2) more space needed to store the cards, and (3) I've noticed that there are not a great deal of graded '74s on ebay. There are several complete sets on the registry and, absent submitting on my own, I wonder if I'd be able to complete it. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

helionaut

I'm sure other experts will be along to tell you the tough cards and such, but I thought I'd just chime in here. I don't collect this set myself, but I check it out once in a while. This is one of the least popular, or should I say 'underappreciated,' 1970s sets, which is both good and bad. You won't have a lot of competition, so your average price per card should be reasonable. If you get into the high end, prices stay reasonable. A PSA 10 Bob Gibson just went for about $230. If that was a 1972, 1973, or 1975, it would have gone for at least $500. But the general lack of interest will probably require a lot of networking, self-submission, and patience. It would probably take at least 2 years unless you have the deep pockets to simply outbid everyone.
As to your specific issues...

(1) Yes, it will cost more than raw. If you submitted it all yourself, it would cost about $4100 for grading fees and postage, excluding the price of the cards, and assuming you always get the grades you want. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $5500-6000 if you bottom-feed auctions and keep yourself on a strict per-card price. At least this is for 8s. If you go 7s it would be quite a bit less, though they're harder to find. If you want 9s, they're obviously quite a bit more.
(2) The space for 660 cards really isn't that much. It'll take up about the same space as a 5000-count box plus an 800-count box.
(3) You're right about the slim pickings on ebay. Every once in a while there is a burst of auctions from someone who did a large submission, but usually it's somewhere well under 200 auctions going on. So you're probably going to have to do at least some submissions on your own, or be prepared for a long hunt. But if you are just starting out, keep your eyes open for a large lot. A lot of times with sets like this the big submitters will bundle up a big chunk of commons that don't sell for much individually just to get rid of them easily. You might be able to pick up 10% of the set or more all at once for a bargain price (at least save a lot on the shipping versus getting them all singly).

jimtb

This is the first set that I built as a kid. Would you include the San Diego "National League" and team autograph checklists as well?

Gatorbait

Thanks for the comments, Helionaut. I think I may purchase a raw set on ebay and see what happens..... The good thing about raw, besides price, is that I can store them in an album and actually look at them! I'm going to follow ebay for awhile and decide. Jimtb, I suppose I'd try to collect the entire set, including all subsets, traded, etc.

Gatorbait

Never heard from the other '74 guys, so I thought I'd bump this up. I purchased two raw sets (one complete and one nearly complete this past week - haven't received them yet). Are there any particularly difficult cards (centering, PD, etc.) I should be aware of? Thanks in advance.

dakota

Gatorbait,
drop me an email if you want. I have built this set two times graded and have many high grade raw along with plenty of 8s available if you might be interested in a starter set.Id be happy to share any info about the set with you. I have helped a few of the top guys with their sets once i broke up my set from 2002.
Its still one of my favorites.
Dgofwinter@aol.com