The Carew looks awesome. This was one of the first sets I collected as a kid. 77 Topps baseball are very hard to find in NM-MT or better condition. One of my buddies has between 1500-2000 commons from this year that he pulled straight from packs and immediately put into plastic sheets. Months ago we looked through the cards and could only find 42 cards that look like they might receive a PSA 8.
I'm a big fan of the 77s, and that Chet is great. I've always thought the photos were so different from 76 or 78 and loved how so many are posed.
I've sent in a ton over the past few years too and you've done better than me. I've also seen a lot of MinSize returns on the 77s from Vendings. Not really sure why that seems to be so common in that year.
Good luck on your set. So many of this year are off-center or have rough edges/corners. The cardboard is so soft and damages so easily.
I think you did very well on this batch considering the current state of grading.
Congrats on the 8's, 9's and 10 for the set build - good luck with it!!
judging by how your six and sevens graded cards look i can see that my personal raw set is a nm to a exmt grade set. i do not think i have that many eight grade cards in my raw set. thank you for showing your graded cards and good luck in getting more to complete your set.
Nice project bgr, I’m thinking of doing the same thing with 82 topps when I retire. Unfortunately I probably have 5 more years. I have a stack of around 50 cards and quite a bit of unopened.
Good luck on your set, you’ve already posted a lot of beautiful cards. 👍
As for the MinSize, I've had a ton come back this year and I also haven't been able to figure out what the deal is. Most are even a bit larger which the MinSize thing even more odd.
I chalk it up to them using computer assistance as a crutch and not actually thinking about it as an individual.
I’ve got about another 10-12 thousand more to go thru with anywhere between 1 and 100 or so of most cards. I just get bored and bug eyed going thru them all. I usually weed out all the OCs and junk them as I go. 98% were from a vending cases I opened 30+ years ago. At least I put everything in number order. Maybe I’ll send in another 100 or so when the next 70s special comes around
@Harnessracing said:
I’ve got about another 10-12 thousand more to go thru with anywhere between 1 and 100 or so of most cards. I just get bored and bug eyed going thru them all. I usually weed out all the OCs and junk them as I go. 98% were from a vending cases I opened 30+ years ago. At least I put everything in number order. Maybe I’ll send in another 100 or so when the next 70s special comes around
Please keep us updated if you make another submission. I probably opened 20 boxes from this year when I was a kid. For $2 I could play there games of pinball, get an ICEA, but a couple of comics, and three packs of baseball cards. Great time to be alive.
Fun thread -- good luck with your set, bgr! It ooks really nice so far and thanks for sharing the ride. '77 Topps is definitely a tough set in terms of paper stock, as others have mentioned, and also a bitch when it comes to centering. Your set looks really solid in the centering department.
The Mark Fidrych rookie card is one of my favorite cards ever, so I'll be looking forward to the grade you get on #265. Hopefully you can land a 9 or 10 on that one.
Those centered "7's" are 8's every day of the week back in the "Old Days" - maybe even 8.5's (its too tough to see the corners enough to know if they're "9's" - but I agree with harnessracing. The pinched you but good!
Reporting grades like that - they (PSA) should be worried about anybody even thinking about submitting sets or near sets for grading in this tight environment.
Steve Saldutti sjjs28@comcast.net Collector of Baseball Hall of Famer's and Stars, 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game and 1969 Topps Decals Registered Sets: 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game, 1969 Topps Decals
It's a $10K entry at 660 cards at $15 all-in just to grade, which used to be $3K in the 2000 & most of 2010s.
I wish you all the best and money is relative but I think the ship has sailed in trying to build a large complete vintage set at today's grading prices - not to mention the volatility in grading consistency.
To put it in perspective I bought a large bulk of 1978 SGC 96 or "9" cards at $3 a piece a few years back. I'm at ~80% complete it's nearly impossible to find the cards needed, let alone at a good price in SGC grade & I'm lukewarm on getting them in PSA - I basically gave up.
There's 11 1977 PSA sets at 100% and only 2 of them average above "9". There's 9 more sets between 70% and 99%, whereby 6 are over 9.00 grade.
I would have to imagine that if one could compile a 100% graded set above "9" grade it would easily bring six figures with 1/2 being "10"s -- maybe?
1977 card stock is fragile compared to 1978, another factor.
Edited to add: I emphasize that I wish you the best & I don't want to discourage you but things are different now than doing this pre-pandemic or earlier...
I break even on the 14-9s I just got back. I make out on the 4-10s
I most likely won’t send in another batch unless the grading is deeply discounted which doesn’t look like that will happen
@Harnessracing said:
This is what scares me. My 20 were no better or worse than these and I got mostly 9’s and 4-10’s with only 1 8
It can be pretty frustrating. I opened a few 1968 topps baseball cello packs last year and submitted a few to get a feel for PSA on the issue and I got some 4s which I thought were 8s. I have another 30 or so cello packs but I might just grade the packs if they don't know how to grade properly.
Here are some of the ones which just perplexed me.
The surfaces have no issues. I got some 7s and 8s but I think, for the most part, they're incorrectly graded.
Pure insanity. You have some of the best 4's and 5's in history. PSA needs to provide grading notes when incidents like this happen. I have seen ample 8's with printing defects, a worn corner, and bad centering and your cards all look better.
Comments
The Carew looks awesome. This was one of the first sets I collected as a kid. 77 Topps baseball are very hard to find in NM-MT or better condition. One of my buddies has between 1500-2000 commons from this year that he pulled straight from packs and immediately put into plastic sheets. Months ago we looked through the cards and could only find 42 cards that look like they might receive a PSA 8.
c
I think they bopped you kinda hard for top-to-bottom centering on those 6's.
Farewell Ryno.
I'm a big fan of the 77s, and that Chet is great. I've always thought the photos were so different from 76 or 78 and loved how so many are posed.
I've sent in a ton over the past few years too and you've done better than me. I've also seen a lot of MinSize returns on the 77s from Vendings. Not really sure why that seems to be so common in that year.
Good luck on your set. So many of this year are off-center or have rough edges/corners. The cardboard is so soft and damages so easily.
c
c
c
I think you did very well on this batch considering the current state of grading.
Congrats on the 8's, 9's and 10 for the set build - good luck with it!!
I love 1977 Topps. Great cards. Good luck with the set.
judging by how your six and sevens graded cards look i can see that my personal raw set is a nm to a exmt grade set. i do not think i have that many eight grade cards in my raw set. thank you for showing your graded cards and good luck in getting more to complete your set.
Nice sub. Love 77's -
Munson and Guidry are hot 9's if you can get lucky!
I just got back a 20 card 1977 submission, like yours mine came from vending. It was a test submission.
1-8
15-9
4-10
This was a blast to read! Keep them coming.
c
I think the main difference between the 7s and 8s is centering for the most part, especially top to bottom.
c
Nice project bgr, I’m thinking of doing the same thing with 82 topps when I retire. Unfortunately I probably have 5 more years. I have a stack of around 50 cards and quite a bit of unopened.
Good luck on your set, you’ve already posted a lot of beautiful cards. 👍
c
The Castro and most of the 6’s are way off top to bottom. Take one of your 9’s and compare the bottom of the card to the Castro.
c
Those are some very nice 9s. Very cool.
As for the MinSize, I've had a ton come back this year and I also haven't been able to figure out what the deal is. Most are even a bit larger which the MinSize thing even more odd.
I chalk it up to them using computer assistance as a crutch and not actually thinking about it as an individual.
I’ve got about another 10-12 thousand more to go thru with anywhere between 1 and 100 or so of most cards. I just get bored and bug eyed going thru them all. I usually weed out all the OCs and junk them as I go. 98% were from a vending cases I opened 30+ years ago. At least I put everything in number order. Maybe I’ll send in another 100 or so when the next 70s special comes around
Please keep us updated if you make another submission. I probably opened 20 boxes from this year when I was a kid. For $2 I could play there games of pinball, get an ICEA, but a couple of comics, and three packs of baseball cards. Great time to be alive.
Fun thread -- good luck with your set, bgr! It ooks really nice so far and thanks for sharing the ride. '77 Topps is definitely a tough set in terms of paper stock, as others have mentioned, and also a bitch when it comes to centering. Your set looks really solid in the centering department.
The Mark Fidrych rookie card is one of my favorite cards ever, so I'll be looking forward to the grade you get on #265. Hopefully you can land a 9 or 10 on that one.
I can’t download the pictures to my phone but if you want to see the 10’s the certain are
95666179
95666186
95666187
95666188
Correction, I did get 1 minisized, I overlooked it originally so 1 less 9
c
They were pretty tough on you I think
Those centered "7's" are 8's every day of the week back in the "Old Days" - maybe even 8.5's (its too tough to see the corners enough to know if they're "9's" - but I agree with harnessracing. The pinched you but good!
Reporting grades like that - they (PSA) should be worried about anybody even thinking about submitting sets or near sets for grading in this tight environment.
sjjs28@comcast.net
Collector of Baseball Hall of Famer's and Stars, 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game and 1969 Topps Decals
Registered Sets: 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game, 1969 Topps Decals
It's a $10K entry at 660 cards at $15 all-in just to grade, which used to be $3K in the 2000 & most of 2010s.
I wish you all the best and money is relative but I think the ship has sailed in trying to build a large complete vintage set at today's grading prices - not to mention the volatility in grading consistency.
To put it in perspective I bought a large bulk of 1978 SGC 96 or "9" cards at $3 a piece a few years back. I'm at ~80% complete it's nearly impossible to find the cards needed, let alone at a good price in SGC grade & I'm lukewarm on getting them in PSA - I basically gave up.
There's 11 1977 PSA sets at 100% and only 2 of them average above "9". There's 9 more sets between 70% and 99%, whereby 6 are over 9.00 grade.
I would have to imagine that if one could compile a 100% graded set above "9" grade it would easily bring six figures with 1/2 being "10"s -- maybe?
1977 card stock is fragile compared to 1978, another factor.
Edited to add: I emphasize that I wish you the best & I don't want to discourage you but things are different now than doing this pre-pandemic or earlier...
Erik
I break even on the 14-9s I just got back. I make out on the 4-10s
I most likely won’t send in another batch unless the grading is deeply discounted which doesn’t look like that will happen
c
Great thread and sweet cards. They were harsh on those cards for sure.
c
This is what scares me. My 20 were no better or worse than these and I got mostly 9’s and 4-10’s with only 1 8
c
Pure insanity. You have some of the best 4's and 5's in history. PSA needs to provide grading notes when incidents like this happen. I have seen ample 8's with printing defects, a worn corner, and bad centering and your cards all look better.