If I were to start a 1972 or 1977 Topps Baseball set...

GeoffEighinger

...would it be wise to start going after PSA 8 and higher or PSA 9 and higher...? I love the look of these cards but I am used to collecting modern PSA 10s (1987-Current) and I know that PSA 10s from 1972 and 1977 are rare and expensive but...?

sagard

Figure out which generation of players you want. The '72s have Clemente/Aaron/Mays, the '77s have Schmidt/Brett/Yount/Winfield.

GeoffEighinger

Playing the old 1971 Season Sports Illustrated baseball game and the All-Time All-Stars game from the same year makes me crave all eras.

ColleSystem

I don't know much about the 72s, but they sure are a spectacular looking card. As far as the 77s, PSA is all over the road map on grading those, so there is the potential for some undergraded finds. The 1977 set is smaller by 100+ cards. But I agree with the comment on choosing what players you would like to collect.

GDM67

A couple of weeks ago, I asked the 72 collectors what the median condition they were chasing was and most seemed pretty happy to go for 8's. That seems sound, to me, with maybe some cheaper cards being ones you could go up to 9 for. 77's, I might tick it a little higher and make 9's my target but be cool with some 8s, as well.

Those are both great sets, the first one I bought any cards from at all, and the first one I bought a substantial amount of, respectively.

ArnyVee

If you look on the '72 thread, you'll have lots of advice and info on there. But, I can tell you from experience that you should go for all 8s and pick up low priced 9s along the way if you'd like. I was doing that and had picked up quite a few 9s. Then, I decided that I wanted a straight 8 set and started to downgrade and sell off the 9s.

It's really a personal preference, but it's a lot easier on the pocketbook as 8s and still very solid looking cards.

Stingray

From what I read even though it might be bigger, the 72 set might be easier. The 77 set has the least amount of cards graded out of all 70s sets. I would not do the 77 set unless it was 9 or 10s only. IMO.

lostdart58

.....depends on how much money you want to tie up to put a set together.

1972 Topps set complete with 8.00 GPA will run you about $10,000- $11,000 (all PSA 8's)

1972 Topps set complete with 8.50 GPA will run you about $18,000-$20,000 ( all PSA 8's or better)

1972 Topps set complete with 9.00 GPA will run you about $32,000-$35, 000 ( would include a handfull of PSA 8's and PSA 10s, since some cards in PSA 9 are next to impossible)

onlyanumber

77's you can pick up dirt cheap in PSA 8. PSA 9's on the 77's are affordable compared to 9's on the 72's. There's only 40 registered sets on the 77 registry compared to 91 on the 72, so you would probably have less competition on 77's...

FB

Jami,

1972 Topps set complete with 9.37 GPA will run you about double that of a 9.00 set (and would include a handful of PSA 8's and about 300 PSA 10s).

But, I wouldn't recommend it....

Frank