Finally finished..1955 Bowman baseball raw! (SCANS ADDED!)

1966CUDA

Well, after approx. 9 yrs. on and off I finally finished my '55 Bowman set....started it 9 years ago when I bought the Mantle card!! Just wondering if I should keep it raw or get some/all graded. What is the general consensus???

Thanks-
Claude

SportsItUpCards

<< <i>Well, after approx. 9 yrs. on and off I finally finished my '55 Bowman set....started it 9 years ago when I bought the Mantle card!! Just wondering if I should keep it raw or get some/all graded. What is the general consensus???

Thanks-
Claude >>



Claude,

Congrats man!!!

WOW, 9 years, thats great man, must have been fun for you. I would get them all graded at the bulk special, not sure if they have it for vintage, but they should.

Good luck if you deceide to get them graded, but the time and spent on the set dosen't even matter what grades you get anyway IMO, but hope you do well anyway.



Giovanni

11235813

Are you planning to sell it, or keep it in your collection?

If you are planning to sell it, whether or not to grade it depends on card condition. It's probably only worth it if you think you have cards that will grade a 8 or 9. Otherwise, you would be just as likely to get good value selling the card raw as graded, given how little 7's go for and the propensity of people to overestimate the condition of raw cards when they are looking to buy. Might want to post scans of the key cards to get the opinions of people on this board.

If you are planning to keep it, I would not bother to get it graded given that it will display better and be easier to store in a binder than in PSA holders, especially since you are looking at $3000+ in grading fees to get all 320 cards graded.

WinPitcher

Congrats Claude

IMO I'd have the HOF's graded.

Steve

WinPitcher

Not sure it would cost 3k+ to have them all graded. Many could be submitted in a bulk lot for as little as 6.00 each.

I would think you could get that set graded for around 1500.00 sans shipping.

Steve

bigfische

Very cool, I love that set.

Lets see some scans!

Stone193

Congratulations Claude!

You're my kind of guy - patient yet prodigious in your pursuit. It's a great set - sort of visionary - since color TVs were a novelty in 1955.

I think the entire set looks great in a binder - I see no reason to grade it unless you decide to sell? Then - as Steve said - get the keys graded if you're planning to sell?

I hope you plan on keeping it after that long of a journey.

mike

1966CUDA

It was a fun journey. I knew I could find the cards on Ebay but didn't want to complete it that way so only a few were purchased there. Found most at card show, card shops, and a garage sales here n there. Actually got the bulk of them early on from a buddy that owns a card shop neare hear and pieced the rest together over time....always kept a list in my wallet just in case!!

Here are some scans..didn't come out too good but I'll try again tomorrow.

-Claude

BobaFett72

Hey congrats! Always nice to see vintage set collectors make their goal!

got any duplicates of Indians players?

SidePocket

Nice going! I wouldn't grade them, I'd just enjoy the set.

relaxed

Congradulations on your completion of the set. You got great patience to start and finish a set that took 9 years to finish. Must be very rewarding.

nightcrawler

Wow!!! That's great news, another congrats here.

I'd keep em raw, I kinda like the binders.

Bosox1976

bluemarlin

Great job on finishing the set,I think personally I would leave your set raw.

Jake

fattymacs

Congrats, I think the 55's are cool. I wouldn't grade them unless you plan to sell.

TheHun

I don't see many of these cards (other than pics of the Mantle) ... thanks for sharing !

Great job.

cheers

1966CUDA

Thanks everyone...kinda nice to get congrats. from fellow collectors. I am leaning toward just keeping them raw. I have them in pages right now and they look nice that way. My next endeavor is a '73 Topps baseball set that my 5 yr old son and I are working on. He loves the old time players and can identify a lot of them just from pics....he was going to shows with me at 3 yrs old and he could identify them even then and the vendors all thought it was really cool. The '73 set is in the "used" category, not worrying about wrinkles or bad corners, just trying to finish getting all the cards. He has them in a binder and even took them to his kindergarten class for show-n-tell.

Thanks again everyone-
Claude

fattymacs

Great story about the 73 set, I took my son to his first show a few weeks ago. Some of the older dealers were glad to see a father-son at the show, apparently it's not as common as it once was. My son has a binder full of my less than stellar conditioned doubles, his crown jewel is a ragged 64 Pete Rose.

baseballfan

congrats!!!

i hope mine doesn't take that long but there is a lot of tough cards in the set and i always have something else working so i'm at about 1 1/2 years now so i might get there.

1966CUDA

Thanks Fred...mine took so long cuz it was on the back-burner most of the time and not a huge priority. Figured I'd get it done when I got it done. Now there are a handfull that need updates (pin holes, writing, or really creased). I'll try and get some better scans of a few of the stars and see what you guys think of maybe just getting them graded.

CDsNuts

The players look like they're on TV.

lostdart58

The '55 Bowmans has always been my favorite set. I put together a raw set over about three years. Occasionally I pick up some upgrades. and would like to upgrade about 30 more cards.

I would never consider having the set graded.

Did you pick up the 5 variations?

1966CUDA

No actually, never got any of the variations.....maybe I should pick those up too?? Guess I have to put a list back in my wallet!!