Mixed Grade Sets

General
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I know some folks are going for PSA 10/9 ex sets which is what got me thinking. What’s the likelihood that others will want to the same with sets like base, jungle and other sets?

For some reason the ex series folks seem okay with mixed Grade Sets and WOTC sets seem like they are more likely to be one grade. I could be wrong with that generalization.

I know lots of folks are going to be grading non-holo cards. There are only so many 10 sets possible, so how many will realistically want to pay these current high prices for non-holo cards? Is it because the 9s and 10s are out of reach that cards like PSA 10 non-holo Snorlax 1st edition is $700 because the 9 is nearly $2000? I have a hard time thinking the folks who can’t afford it fine these expensive tens will want to buy the non-holos for such high prices. I look forward to having a civilized discussion with you lovely folks.

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I often go for mixed grade sets for my personal collection. I think it is a good way to save some money. I don’t really think too much about how this could affect any future profits. To me, if I can get a 10 on a card, that is great, but a 9 is also great too. I like the idea. Also, I do believe that cards with imperfections gives them character.

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Personally I’m okay with anything 8-10, it just depends on the card itself and where it fits in my collection. For the cards that I love the most, I want them in a 10 i.e. wind from the sea tyranitar. But for cards where I’m less passionate about, like the kingler from expedition, I’d be 100% okay with a 9, an 8 as well depending on the eye appeal.

I myself tier my collection so tier 1 cards are all psa 10s, tier 2s/3s can be 9s or 8s/1st vs. unlimited, something like that. Might be a quirk of mine, not sure if anyone else does that, but that’s how I collect haha.

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I also go for mixed grade WOTC sets. Especially if I’m finding and grading cards myself. Sometimes I prefer a card I found and graded in a 7, 8 or 9 to one that I purchased as a 10. Of course if I grade a 10 myself then that’s a winner :blush:

Also if there’s a card I don’t really like all that much, then I don’t feel the need to have it just to complete a set.

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I’ve shifted towards BGS because the 9.5/10 gives me some wiggle room in prices but the downfall is a BGS 9 really distracts from the eye appeal if you wanted to pick one up for the set - I still prefer to buy raw and grade myself even though it’s not opening straight from the pack they do always come in the mail wrapped

v/r

odds

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I used to collect just one grade for a set, usually 9 or 10.

With the market how it is now, I’ve changed my strategy and am happy to drop to 8s or even 7s to complete a set.

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I assume there will be more mixed grade sets in the future due to prices and market availabiltiy. And honestly that’s completely fine with me.
If your ‘OCD’ prohibits you from having a mixed grade set and your bugdet prohibits you from having a complete 10/9/8 set, you can always resort to binder collecting.

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I have a complete Near Mint binder of Shadowless cards that I was planning on selling given the current boom, but I’ve been debating whether to grade them or not because the holos range from what I assume would be some as low as PSA 6 to some as high as PSA 9 and I feel like especially after grading costs it might not be worth it given that most buyers aren’t going to like having the whole set full of mixed grades.

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Grade the 9 candidates, sell those, and replace them with PSA 6 copies (either buy raw or buy PSA 6s and crack them out of the case).

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I’ve been thinking of getting 9s, 8s and 7s for my wotc sets so i can at least complete those sets and get 10s in future if i strike the lottery :sob:

Due to this a name change might have to be made to either Gemmint10987654321 or gemmint1-10 :rofl:

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I’m doing a mix grade 1st edition base set collection. It’s not realistic for me to try and get PSA 9’s of some of the remaining holo’s now. The important thing for me is having all of the cards.

The non-holos are mostly PSA 9, some 10’s, and I even picked up an 8.5 because it was a deal.

For my Unlimited collection, I have all 9’s, except an 8 Machamp that was needed to complete the PSA set registry. Didn’t really consider that to be a true Unlimited card due to the 1st edition stamp and I wasn’t willing to pay a premium for that card.

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I have mixed PSA 9 and 10 sets of aquapolis and skyridge. I wanted PSA 9s and whenever I could get a PSA 10 that wouldn’t break the bank I got one. I was able to get the majority of them 2-3 years ago and even then some of the PSA 10s were out of reach like PSA 10 crystal charizard. The fact that I have a mixed set doesn’t bother me at all because I look at it as they are PSA 9+ sets.