To grade or not...1970 Topps basketball

natetrook

I have a 1970 Topps "Tall-Boys" Basketball set, put together from vending 5-6 yrs back.
It is the most pristine set I have ever owned.
Mostly PSA 7, 8, 9, with the occasional OC card.

Question is, if I plan on keeping the set, should I bother to grade the majority of the set with the tall-boy common special?
Any cards not getting the grade I want will open up a can of worms and start me down the pursuit of an all PSA graded set.
Any advice on whether to take this opportunity to grade the commons, or should I hang on, and if I decide to sell, just grade the
few stars and state the rest of the set is the same.

Any help appreciated.
Nate

HOWARDROTHENBERG1

I have the same problem. I have decided to take advantage of the special and grade as many commons as I think I can get into 8's or 9's. Why: Because if I , or my estate ,ever decide to sell my collection, it takes away the condition argument. An 8 is an 8, a 9 is a 9.

fensfan

Hard to go wrong getting them graded if they get at least 8s. If you keep the set, your best cards are protected. If you sell, then you have the benefit of 3rd party grading. Other factor that shouldn't be overlooked is the chance to get 9s that, if you don't plan on putting together a top graded set, can be sold and replaced with raw or lesser grades.
It's about time they offered a grading special for tallboys!

Mike

fensfan

By "best" cards I was referring to condition. If your stars are in better or equal shape as the 8-9 possibilities you'd include in the grading special, then should be a no-brainer to get as much of the set graded as possible -- particularly for the high-dollar 9 possibilities.

PROMETHIUS88

Ponder...
1970 Topps #10 Hondo....ungraded...maybe $100 card if it "looks" really nice. Psa 9 Hondo...$3800 on ebay. If there are enough 9's, this is a no-brainer at $6/card.

Good luck and post the grades when you get them back!!

Tim

dude

I have 5 commons from 1970-71 Topps Basketball that should grade PSA 8. The problem is that 4 of them (#63 Dandridge, #71 Bridges, #76 Mullins and #105 Clark) have populations of 39, 61, 80 and 43 respectively in PSA 8. The SMR lists them for $25 but will I even get $15 or even $10 for those cards with that high of a population? Any help is appreciated.

ydsotter

I say you get a nice MJ Roop binder and keep it.

Boopotts

<< <i>I have 5 commons from 1970-71 Topps Basketball that should grade PSA 8. The problem is that 4 of them (#63 Dandridge, #71 Bridges, #76 Mullins and #105 Clark) have populations of 39, 61, 80 and 43 respectively in PSA 8. The SMR lists them for $25 but will I even get $15 or even $10 for those cards with that high of a population? Any help is appreciated. >>




My guess would be no. I recently picked up a high pop PSA 9 for 22$, and many 8's sell for as little as 10$ now.

dude

Boopotts --

Thanks for the info. Thats's pretty much what I was afraid of.

Oh well, at least I have some nice 1970 and 1971 Topps Super Baseball commons to submit that have a shot at PSA 9.

duner

If you're looking to sell the set, it's not worth it to grade it. I was shopping around for one, and a nice ungraded set w/ a graded maravich sold for $425 a couple of weeks ago. About a month ago a set sold that had 90 cards graded in the exmt-nmmt range. It was really nice, and it ended at $950....if people think the cards are selling low now, it's only going to get worse in a couple of months when all the tallboy specials hit the market.

As for aesthetics, nothing's nicer than having a completely graded set!

PROMETHIUS88

I have to disagree to some extent with duner. Although you can pick up a raw set fairly cheap, it is close to impossible to get a complete set in all psa 8. Still several of the sp's are rarely seen in 8 and that is where the meat of the set is at. There are also some low pop commons that are hard to find in 8 as well. While the price of the commons has fallen and many can be picked up at about $10, to me it makes the set that much more appealing. Keep in mind, even if you can get the commons at about $10 each, add on the #3-$4 shipping per card and it does make sense to spend the $6/card to have the raw graded if you know they are 8's or better. Again, this set is next to impossible to complete in all 8nq....I believe at this time according to the pop, only 7 sets are possible in all 8 or better because of #4 only having a pop of 7.....and that is if the pop report is accurate. There are several active buyers right now but as I look at the registry...and I sit at #23, a lot of the sets are filled with just commons and a couple of the stars. I think most are not willing to bid on the sp's because they cost a bit more. Funny, because some of the sp's that can be had at $50-75 today would have run $200-300 each a couple of years back! Don't know if I'll ever complete it in all 8, but I can tell you that it is a VERY long journey in this grade and I will appreciate it much more than an ex raw set that I could pick up for the price of just one psa 8 Maravich! Really, I would love to see one in all 8 come up in auction just to see what it would fetch...My guess/hope would be that it should bring $5-$7k....what you all think????

Tim

p.s. This is just my opinion and remember....opionions are like a*******...everybody has one and most of them stink!!