Low budget collecting: Rank these PSA/DNA subs

Hey everyone,
I am collecting on a pretty strict budget of $40 per month. Anything I spend over that needs to come fro other areas of my collection. I collect in person autographed rookie cards, especially authenticated autographed rookie cards. I have sent 2 submissions to PSA/DNA before when they had their $10 special and I was on my way to building a pretty nice authenticated autographed RC collection. Unfortunately, most of my most valuable/prized autographed RCs were stolen when my house was broken in to last year. I have added some nice autographed RCs to my collection since then, and now I want to do a submission of about 13-17 cards to help rebuild my collection. The first few are obvious, but on my budget I'll need to prioritize (the more I authenticate, the more I'll need to sell). This is the order I came up with off the top of my head for what I know I have signed. What would your priority be?

Just to be clear, by RC I mean first card issued by a major manufacturer or a "RC" logo card if I didn't have the player's first card.

Autographed RCs to authenticate through PSA/DNA, in order of priority.

83 Topps Gwynn (this one would replace one that was stolen)
83 OPC Gwynn (this one would replace one that was stolen)
66 Topps Don Sutton
84 Topps Mattingly
91 Topps Chipper Jones x2 (I bought one on eBay a few months ago, but then I got him to sign one in person last month--probably keep 1 and sell 1 to buy more cards to get signed)
69 Topps Rollie Fingers
00 Bowman Draft Adrian Gonzalez (this one would replace the 4 Gonzalez auto RCs that were stolen)

After those obvious eight, I'll need to prioritize among these:

89 UD Omar Vizquel
87 Donruss The Rookies Matt Williams (a childhood favorite, the thieves took my 87 Fleer Update that was signed and slabbed)
08 A&G RC Logo Jay Bruce
08 A&G RC Logo Joey Votto
01 Bowman Heritage Travis Hafner
05 Bowman's Best Matt Kemp (kind of a dark card, sadly, this one would replace the 2 sweet 05 Bowman Heritage RCs I had signed from Kemp)
07 Donruss EEE Matt Latos Jsy card
88 Donruss Mark Grace
75 Topps Fred Lynn
00 Bowman Draft Grady Sizemore
99 Bowman David Eckstein
95 Bowman's Best Scott Rolen
01 Topps Gold Jake Peavy
06 Bowman Heritage Alex Gordon
10 Topps Chrome Carlos Santana x4 (one regular chrome, two redemption refractors, 1 green redemption refractor)
Cameron Maybin (04 AFLAC or 06 Bowman Heritage)

Honorable mention:
66 Topps Fergie Jenkins RC, but I got it signed at last year's All Star Fan Fest, so it already has a MLB authentication sticker. Perhaps PSA/DNA would be overdoing it.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Anthony

If you're going to be looking to flip the authenticated auto, maybe do the '89 UD Omar Vizquel. Whenever he retires and becomes eligible for the HoF there'll probably be an upswing in interest in his stuff. I'm not into speculating/investing, though, so I could be way off.

I agree that submitting your Fergie RC would be unnecessary since it's already authenticated by MLB.

Also, I sympathize with your budgetary situation. I'm on a strict $25/month budget myself, which is not likely to change until the kids are out of daycare, the second car is paid off, the mortgage is smaller, etc, etc. Sucks how real life can interfere with cards!

- Rod

After the first eight, I'd rank them like this:

66 Topps Fergie Jenkins RC
89 UD Omar Vizquel
95 Bowman's Best Scott Rolen
75 Topps Fred Lynn
88 Donruss Mark Grace
08 A&G RC Logo Joey Votto
08 A&G RC Logo Jay Bruce
87 Donruss The Rookies Matt Williams
05 Bowman's Best Matt Kemp
00 Bowman Draft Grady Sizemore
07 Donruss EEE Matt Latos Jsy card
01 Topps Gold Jake Peavy
10 Topps Chrome Carlos Santana x4 (one regular chrome, two redemption refractors, 1 green redemption refractor)
06 Bowman Heritage Alex Gordon
Cameron Maybin (04 AFLAC or 06 Bowman Heritage)
01 Bowman Heritage Travis Hafner
99 Bowman David Eckstein

Some rationale...
- Already authenticated or not, people like these in the PSA/DNA slabs. HOF RC = get it slabbed
- 89 UD is an iconic set and Vizquel could make the Hall... his best rookie signed and authenticated is nice
- 95 Bowman's Best is also an iconic set and Rolen has had a real nice career. Great card and as far as I know he doesn't have any Auto RC's (at least not any major league issues), so his best RC signed and slabbed would be highly collectible. If you don't get it slabbed, PM me and I might consider buying it from you so I can have it slabbed myself, I love this set
- For the others, I weighed star power versus auto RC availability. A lot of the current guys you have either have a ton of certified auto RC's, were at one point big prospects but haven't really made it yet, or both. Taking that into consideration, I like the list above.

Good luck!

John

good luck with the project!

as you can see, i am a HUGE fan of rc card getting signed and slabbed (i like red slab over blue slab, btw) with some type of inscription

from the list, i also would want gwynn and mattingly and chipper (desert storm card, if possible).

im still kicking myself for missing out on ozzie smith's signing...wanted to get his rc topps signed and inscribed "wizard"

dave

daveyou said:

good luck with the project!

as you can see, i am a HUGE fan of rc card getting signed and slabbed (i like red slab over blue slab, btw) with some type of inscription

from the list, i also would want gwynn and mattingly and chipper (desert storm card, if possible).

im still kicking myself for missing out on ozzie smith's signing...wanted to get his rc topps signed and inscribed "wizard"

dave

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments, folks. There is definitely some decisions to be made. I'm not really looking into flipping--probably just that 2nd Chipper Jones RC.

I also like the red flips a lot better. When buying, that's what I look for first. The 89 UD Griffey I bought had to be a red flip. The blue ones were going for less, but I know the 89 Griffey was rumored to be mass produced (backdoored by UD?), so I figured a red flip would provide me some protection against buying one that wasn't real. It was an extra $30 or $40 over the blue flip, but I like it.

As I mentioned above, the majority of my collection was stolen last year. However, if I didn't have them authenticated I wouldn't have been able to get much for them at all through my renter's insurance. I guess that's the silver lining: we were able to eat up our $1,000 deductable and still have enough left over to replace our laptop that was stolen because my cards were authenticated--a lot easier to prove value.

Not that getting these authenticated is meant as a security policy going forward. I just really like the look of a RC that I got signed in a PSA/DNA slab. And if needed, they will be easier to sell if my family ever needs the money.

Ozzie Smith? His was one that was stolen from me... I feel like I'm over it, but it's still not great to think of the cool cards I had in my collection that are gone now. I think getting a few nice pieces slabbed will help.

Were you thinking about moving one of your Chippers now? If so how much?