How do I find comps for lower-graded cards?

[MRich1976]

I bought some vintage cards from eBay that I'm probably going to send to SGC. They're likely not going to grade very high, but I might want to sell one of them when I get them back.

I have two Dutch Leonard cards on the way to me. One is a 1949 Bowman (#115), and the other is a 1952 Topps Dutch Leonard (#110).

I don't expect either of them to come back any higher than a 4 or a 5.

I'm having trouble locating pricing for anything lower than a 7.

For instance, on one site I found, the 49 Bowman shows a raw value of around $9, and a PSA 7 is $93. The 52 Topps shows a raw value of $8.75 raw and $85 as a PSA 7.

But I'm having a difficult time finding other pricing on lower grades, especially SGC grades.

Where could I look for them?

[toddgreen]

Probably look up sold listings on eBay and see what people are paying for these types of cards at different grades

[bigbenjobu]

@MRich1976 I agree with @toddgreen

eBay will be your best place to look. I just looked and the 1949 Bowman Dutch Leonard had two graded cards sold in the last 90 days (a PSA 2 and a PSA 5). The PSA 2 sold for $9.50 and the PSA 5 went for $40.

When searching eBay, make sure you always go to sold listings for comps. And as far as SGC vs. PSA pricing, SGC cards do sell for less. Vintage may not be as big of a difference as modern.

[MRich1976]

@bigbenjobu

Again, thanks for the great info! These are (for now) PC cards, so I don't see myself selling them. But I've heard that SGC is generally better, grading wise, for vintage vs non-vintage, and these are definitely vintage cards. Although if the Dutch Leonards come back high enough, I may try to sell one and see if I can at least recoup the cost of grading + card.

[bigbenjobu]

@MRich1976 Yes that is definitely what I have heard too.

I personally love SGC. They have new reduced prices for all cards, the $9 grading specials are great when they offer them, and I almost always have my cards back in under 2 weeks.

And if you do decide to sell, the resale value isn't that far off of PSA considering you pay less to have the cards graded and you have them back in a fraction of the time.

[MRich1976]

@bigbenjobu

Yeah, for anything I have graded, I don't really ever see myself using PSA. $25/card, and they take forever. And then if your card is worth over a certain amount? They upcharge you. And they charge when they ship, not when you place the order, so there's no telling when you actually get charged.

For my PC, for whatever I decide to grade I'm going to mostly stick with SGC, but I want to try TAG as well, and there are a couple of lesser-known ones I want to look at also.