Help determining prof. grading a set

[robgaines]

I have an older set of Topps football that I bought straight from Topps when I was young.

The set has - - 98% - - been left in the box its whole life. Meaning I've only taken a couple cards out for any reason, ever. It's mint. The key card, a rookie obviously, BVG graded as an 8. It's still in the Topps box it came in.

Money's tight, but I'd like to grade as many / as few cards as necessary to further help, via grading, a potential buyer know that the whole set has been together its whole life.

I'm considering doing a consecutive set of 10 cards (I don't care what range, but perhaps 1-10, or 100-110), and then the 10 most valuable cards other than the key card, for a total of submitting 20 cards for grading. What would help you if you were a potential buyer for this?

[krunchtyme]

If the set is pre 1970 then you are in luck as this quarter grading special is for pre-1970 Vintage cards. My guess is it isn't,. The the next cost effective option is a bulk submission. That runs about $10 a card from PSA. The Catch....you have to submit 50 or more cards. Over 100 and you get an even bigger discount. It can be done IF WE CAN GET 20 people to do 5-10 cards each, we would easily make the 50 cards and most likely make the 100. (By math we would but some how math doesn't always work on these things..lol) The last way I would recommend is for the high $ cards depending on who they are. Myself and another SCF member are submitting a few cards through the "Economy" service. The BV must be less than $499 per card and the fees are $20 per card plus shipping and insurance. On this, the more members who are in, then shipping and insurance goes down per person, but it is still $20 per card as a base fee.

I don't have a Beckett account, so I don't send them in to them. Some people will only collect Beckett or PSA and not mix in one set. (Myself included) I would not recommend any of the other grading services as resale seems to be significantly lower. If resale isn't an issue, you may want to consider an even cheaper way to "grade" them or encapsulate them.

Thanks Rich

[FireRob]

Interesting.... and so many questions as well

So just to make sure I understand you all the way. You have an older factory set that you eventually want to sell after you have them all graded and want the buyer to know it was all from a factory sealed set?

if that’s correct?
my advise....
Don’t grade any more cards and just leave the key rookie card as it currently is and try and sell the set.

Most people can’t afford an entire graded complete set and will slowly piece one together. They will buy the highest graded ones they can when they can afford it. Also they do it this way to get the highest possible grades.

There are the rich folks and crazy collectors with dream collections who can afford to buy the entire set of graded cards but they are after the one where every card is a 10.

This leads me to your set. Even if these cards have never been touched by human hands. The grades in your factory sealed set will be all over the place. Sure just maybe you might have a few 10’s. But.... Don’t be surprised, no matter how nice you think the card looks. Your going to have some that will grade very low. Some simply due to centering. Something no one ever had any control over. That OC (off center) card was placed in that box at a time when not many cared how centered a card was especially no one at Topps.

That said. Your going to have cards with a grade not many people will want and eventually if they did buy your whole set they will eventually look to upgrade those cards. Now your set that has spent its whole life together has been pieced off one by one.

I really think if it’s important to you that the set stays together and/or you think it’s important to the buyer that they know it’s a factory set... Just leave it as is.

I don’t know what set you have but I also think it will be hard to get your money back. Assuming it’s a standard 400 card set. At $10 a card to get graded. It will cost $4k just in grading fees. If you have a low graded common card you might be lucky to get half the cost of the grading fee back for that card. Depending on the set “low grade” could be anything 9 and lower. Since you said it’s a factory set I’m guessing 1980’s or newer. Most cards from ‘80’s and 90’s unless they are an absolute star don’t have a lot of value unless they are a 10.

These are just my random opinions so take em for that. I would love to know more details about the set you have and what all you want to do with it.

[krunchtyme]

@FireRob; @robgaines

I agree with Firerob on this one. I collect graded Dallas Cowboy cards and have over 900. Extrapolate that out to about $9K in GRADING. Could have bought some really nice cards with that money!!!!! BUT I look at a lot of cards that people say are "MIint" and I'm like not even close (in my opinion of course).

As for a complete set from the 80's or 90's. It would take you multiple attempts per card to actually get a PSA 10, even out of a factory sealed set. Like Firerob said. Off-centering, print defects, just general cardboard and paper used lends itself to weak cards. Perfect example is 1984 Drew Pearson. Its a semi-star at best. Shouldn't cost most than .50 anywhere in the world. I have probably looked at 50 of them and can't find one that would grade as a 9, not even a 10. It is the last card I need for the 1984 Topps Dallas Cowboys Team Set PSA 9 or higher. Been looking since 2012....I would pay at least $1 per card and possibly higher if anyone had some that they thought would be a 9. I can tell from scans for the most part. I have opened 1984 rack packs and didn't get even 1 card I thought would be a PSA 10. I opened multiple 1978 cello packs and haven't gotten a PSA 10 yet. (In my defense I have only sent in about 5 of the cards so far.)

I agree with a lot of people, when they say its dumb to spend money on graded cards, when they are cheaper raw. BUT... Like anything, Myself and the people who have sent in the over 82 million items to be graded by PSA, we like knowing it's a 10, one of the best cards that exists; and for those of you who argue that grading is subjective...You're right, but the raw cards they own are also subjectively graded by you the owner. Ultimately, we can all agree that we are all trying to get the best "looking" cards we can.

So going back to my thoughts. Grading a complete set is easier done by buying on the open market than sending them in yourself. Just from experience. I did a chunk of the 1978 Topps Football set. I did it by team/grade on the open market. It still was going to cost me somewhere in the $5K to make a 1978 Topps football set. LOL I even just gave up on doing a 2014 Topps Chrome Refractor set because I didn't want to pay .30 a card for common refractors. LOL

All this said, I am building a 2009 Upper Deck America's Team, set. I have about 5 cards graded and only a few of them are PSA 10. More to follow...

[robgaines]

1976 Topps football.

My hope was to limit my spending to around $200 (knowing yeah that leaves a ton of them ungraded), so I had no interest in grading the majority.

Sounds like my assertion or claim that they've always been together and were factory bought (both of which are true), is significant.

[krunchtyme]

The obvious card is the Payton RC, which if graded and graded high would make the set worth WAY more. Graded a PSA 8 is between 500 and $1k on ebay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...&LH_Complete=1

The rest of the cards in the set do pretty well in high grade: Bradshaw, Staubach, Randy White, Etc... but that set is notorious for being Off Centered. I have a Payton RC that is badly OC. If your plan is to sell the entire set and you think the Payton is 8 or above...Grade it, it would be worth it. But if the Payton is in the 5 range, I would leave it raw and set the set. If you think the set is actually 8 or above, send me scans and I'll let you know my thoughts. If the set is sealed...I wouldn't open it, as it stands it may be centered..it may not, but the assumption is they are all mint/nr mint, which would command a premium.



If you decide to open it and grade any. Let me know. I'll gladly review the Cowboys cards in the set. If they are mint or even NrMt, I'll buy them at or around BV. I am speculating just like everyone else that I can get a high grade in my collection!

Here is my current Cowboys Team Set: PSA 7, 8, 9's https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...stry/set/90062

[krunchtyme]

@robgaines

I just reviewed your first post. It's been opened so, anyone planning on dumping a lot of money is going to want to see scans. Here is the population report showing how many cards have been graded and in what grade.

https://www.psacard.com/pop/football...76/topps/49793

You can see the 10's are minimal, even the 9's are pretty low.

Here is the PSA Price Guide. Remember this is only a guide so you may get higher for a specific card, or lower on the open market. https://www.psacard.com/smrpriceguid...1976-topps/696


A common card can expect about $7 per card or about $3 less than it would cost you to grade. LOL Of course there is a group of cards in this set that are pretty good. Again, I'd like to see the Cowboys if you ever decide to break the set.

[robgaines]

Yes opened. Yes the Payton is a BVG 8.

Know you'd like to see more than 3, but I'll scan 3 for you (to expand my/our idea of the whole ~528 set) if you tell me which ones. I'm prepared to hear Staubach and Randy White. Card #'s welcome if you happen to have them.

[FireRob]

I have actually been wanting to get the complete set from 1976. You might have a buyer right now as is. Send me a PM with your asking price before you send or grade any of them.

[krunchtyme]

@robgaines; @FireRob

I agree with Firerob on this one. If he has a buyer, I would listen to the offer. Here is what PSA 8's, PSA 9's, PSA 7's look like. The card numbers are in the pictures.



Here is a PSA 8 Staubach:
















Here is the Cowboy Team Set: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...stry/set/90062