PSA graded cards question

[bunst]

Are all PSA slabbed cards graded the same as far as serial number? For example, is a card graded by PSA in 1998 the same condition as one graded in 2010?

[cozmokramer]

Your question doesn't make sense... And knowing what you mean it should hold for any grading company.

Serial numbers have nothing to do with a grade a cards receives. It just matches a card and it's assigned grade.

A card graded in 1998 should be consistent with one today if the condition is similar.

However, grading is subjective and surely someone that graded a card in 1998 would be a different person than someone grading it today, thus that subjective opinion may vary.

[Peter_Spaeth]

At a very general level, many people believe grading standards have somewhat tightened over the years at PSA, at least at the high end. Perhaps reflecting an increasing number of cards with very sharp corners -- draw your own conclusions. That said, this says nothing about any given card, because any grade level has always had a low end and high end covering a significant spectrum.

[glchen]

One difference in the grading is that within that last couple of years PSA has introduced half grades. Therefore, for example, strong 5's in 1998 might receive 5.5's if the card is sent in for Review submission.

[shaunsteig]

agree completely with the earlier comments. but your question also asked about the serial numbers -- do the serial numbers actually correlate with the timing of submission?
thanks,
--S

[glchen]

With PSA, I believe the serial numbers actually do correlate with the timing of the submission. The smaller the number, the earlier the submission.

Ironically, just today in the PSA forum, a poster has a thread on the history of PSA flips: Linky (http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=816418)

[cozmokramer]

With PSA, I believe the serial numbers actually do correlate with the timing of the submission. The smaller the number, the earlier the submission.

Ironically, just today in the PSA forum, a poster has a thread on the history of PSA flips: Linky (http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=816418)

Yes and no... PSA certification numbers do go in order... however when a flip is returned as a card that was crossed over, that certification number gets reused... thus an original early certification number can now be used for a card that was graded just last week for example.

[bunst]

Sorry if my question was confusing. Yes I was under the impression that serial numbers were sequential; the lower the number, the earlier it was graded. But didn't think about the crossover situation. I ask because I've heard to stay away from low serial numbers because the grading wasn't always true.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

My observation is that the serial numbers up until about 4 years ago were rather random, but all started with the number "0". I recall in a discussion with a former PSA grader that the 08xxxxxx slabs were graded at shows and in his opinion those tended to be overgraded since they were mainly for the "big" dealers.

Then of late, the past three or four years, they have shown a pattern of being in some type of numerical order i.e. 157xxxxx to the current 189xxxxx. This closely coincides when PSA went to the 1/2 grade scale.

Another observation is that the early graded cards, (the ones with the font that has a diagonal through the zero) had a reputation of being overgraded. As a result, many of those cards would get reholdered to have a newer looking flip without changing the grade.

Overall, I don't think there's any question that the PSA grading standards, in terms of assigned grades, are tougher now than they were 20 years ago. However, in my opinion, advanced card doctoring wasn't that pervasive as it is today, so there's probably a better chance of getting a doctored card in a slab today than one would get twenty years ago.