lowest condition worth grading for personal collection

kingraider75

been sitting on a 1956 Topps Football set. Use to think the set was EXMT and would get 6's mainly, then I thought EX 5's and now with the way PSA is grading might be some 4's in there. Is it worth it to get something that going's to be around a 4 or 5 graded on a 56 set?

1420sports

I am collecting the 67 Topps set and my minimum grade is PSA 7, which is not that high considering the set. The cards are NM by definition, and I enjoy them.

I am also collecting the HOF player set, and I would like at least a PSA 3 for some of the older, more expensive cards. I will not pay crazy money for a PSA 1 (19th C), so I may resort to adding those players with a Shakey's or Fleer ...

1420sports

Is it worth it to get something that going's to be around a 4 or 5 graded on a 56 set?

to many of us it is

What others think is irrelevant - collect what YOU think is a nice grade. There are very nice PSA 4-5's out there.

kingraider75

good points, I try to collect what I want. Guess my worry is if I need to move the set at some time in the future. So I should re-ask the question is worth it financially to grade a set out at PSA 4 or PSA 5.

yawie99

for '56 topps football, it's probably not worth it to grade cards that end up at 5 or less - unless there's some sort of great $5 special on them. i just checked completed auctions on ebay and saw quite a few 6's and even some 7's from the set that sold for about $10 or less. that's basically the normal price just to grade vintage commons. if you really want to work on the set, you might want to snag as many cheap 6's and 7's as you can on ebay and maybe submit from your raw set from time to time to fill holes.

jaxxr

I am a set registry participant in the 1957 Topps FB set, similar to the 56, but much more of a true classic due to the RCs and the "standard size" cards. Of course I am only kidding, as any set is a classic to the collector and rightfully so.

I do have a 56 FB set in raw shape, about a 4 to 7 in its condition. Because I don't have any graded, this is almost okay with me. I might upgrade the 3 or 4 worst looking cards and then be finalized , but may leave as it is now alltogether.

If a graded set was my goal I think I might go for a 5 or Ex as minimum condition. Those who wish 3rd party confirmation of the set's condition would probably want at least EX ( collector's grade ) as the lowest shape. Fully raw sets are a bit different, and more levels of condition are acceptable in most cases.

1956 FB or baseball is almost 50 years old ! If the cards are decent, perhaps even a grade of 3, if a solid one, may be good enough for a lot of collectors. A complete set should be considered for it's entity as well as the parts making it up. And most important, the condition acceptable is really in the eyes of the owner, as was stated before.

KansasJayhawk

I am building a 1933 Goudey set in PSA 5 and I think it is worth it, the cards look very nice to me and are financially attainable (yes I will be getting the #106 card before I am done) as long as I enjoy the card the grade is secondary.

yawie99

yeah, i wasn't saying that midgrade cards aren't worth it. in fact, i don't know that i'll ever attempt a high-grade set again. one's enough for me. i've been dabbling in psa 3-5 '33 goudeys as well and i think they look great.

but for kingraider's set of choice, i think it makes more sense to buy a 6 or 7 off ebay for $10 than to spend $8-10 to submit a maybe-if-i'm-really-really-lucky-it'll-be-a-6 copy of the same card.

jerster

Sometimes its not always about the grade. Yes, its not "financially" correct to get some cards graded - but people have different reasons for doing a lot of things. I say get graded whatever you want. Its not always about the resale - sure its nice to get your money back or even make a profit. But its not going to happen each and every time.

I spend money on a lot of things without getting my money back - entertainment goes a long way sometimes.

Just wait till you guys catch wind of what I'll be doing in the future. You'll think I'm crazy and pissing my money away....but I am not going to worry about that too much...you always make more.

Jerster

gregm13

Good thread. I always shoot for PSA 8 - but will take PSA 7 if available. Then again, 50's/60's football is a lot cheaper than baseball. I find that most 8's are in the $20-$30 range for most of the sets I collect. My funds aren't infinite and I'm slowly compiling a high grade collection.

Regards,

Greg M.

kingraider75

good points. I wasn't aware that 56 PSA 6 or so sold for the price of grading. I had the same problem when I built my 55 AA set, purchasing raw cards and getting them graded for about double the cost of buying one off ebay. Maybe I will see if I can buy a raw complete set that is NM or better. I saw one, but at the time I didn't want to pay 1100 for it. Guess I should have, someone else bought it!! Timing is everything with vintage!! Thanks folks.