Hi Dan!

Great question.  In general, we are looking for items valued over $1,000, but we make tons of exceptions to this.  Some reasons why we would make an exception:

• The item is really cool.

• The item is a 19th Century piece (we take almost anything from the 19th Century)

• The item is related to the Negro Leagues, Federal League, Players League, PCL, barnstorming, etc.

• It's part of a big consignment and there's no obvious way to include the item in a lot

• We're breaking up a set

• It's really interesting-looking and old, and would look great in the catalog

As you can see, it's entirely subjective.  But for the most part, the more frequently-seen, the more recently-issued, or the more poor the condition, the less likely we are to be able to take lower-value items.  The main reason for this isn't because we're snooty, it's because it costs so much money to print and mail the kind of quality catalog we produce, that if each page was filled with lower-dollar items, we'd go out of business!

As for graded vs. raw, it depends on the item.  Obviously it's easier if it's already graded, but not everything can or should be graded, so we handle grading on a case-by-case basis.

-Al