Card Fading and Grading Impact - Help Appreciated
 

I am relatively new here but loving the forum and all the great information.

My apologies if this has been discussed (I would assume that is has) however I searched and searched and was unable to find anything in the forums. Feel free to link any threads I may have missed.

Included in a recent lot I purchased are a couple cards with conditions that fit what I want for my graded PC however there are some coloring issues which appear to be due to fading.

PSA doesn't seem to have any information that I can find relating to fading and it's overall impact on grading. Does it hurt the way they rate the surface? Will it come with a MK qualifier?

Photo examples are attached - one is the back of a 1965 Aaron and the other is a faded front of a 1966 Koufax.

Any help or experiences are greatly appreciated - thanks!

You may want to search for "toning". Might be more hits. I don't think there's a consensus in the grading world about how much to downgrade for it. You might just have to send them in and see.

Fading does not merit an (MK). They should get straight
grades. However, the cost of the grading would not
justify sending them in if they were my cards.

Hope that helps.

:cool:!

I'm sure it varies, but in my experience the fading does not affect grading too bad unless it is just really extreme. This is one of the things I have never understood about third party grading - corners and surface are ultra important and usually make up the majority of a card's entire grade - but yet color and registration often do not. Fading on the back - as with everything else on the back - is going to be much less of an impact.

That Koufax to me looks like it might get a 3 or a 4 - even with the fading. Aaron, would have to see the front.

Keep in mind that even if you get a grade which doesn't much consider the fading - your ability to sell the card in the same price range as one that does not have it and has better eye appeal will not be the same. While some TPG's may not consider color and registration - collectors do - and from what I have seen the market there adjusts itself accordingly.

I hadn't used that term before in any of my searches - will start digging. Thanks

I would have been surprised to hear that they would carry the qualification but it didn't seem out of the realm of possibility either.
As for the grading - these would likely be part of a large bulk order so the cost would be relatively low ($8 per - plus shipping, etc) and they would likely be PC cards or placeholders until upgrades come along.


Good points all the way around. I agree across the board. I think the Aaron is probably in the 3+ range without the fading so I would assume it would drop out of where I would want it to be with the back. Front scan included if curious.

Thanks for all the responses - much appreciated!
Joe

Front looks good. It could get a 4 if the corner rounding is not judged too extreme. A 3 is probably more likely.

It has been added to the "definitely maybe" pile. No creases or wrinkles (that I can see anyway) - sharp looking card from a great set (in my opinion)

Agree. Nothing wrong with slabbing even lower grade stuff if you want it slabbed for your collection. I did that with a '56 Mickey Mantle which wouldn't even grade - but put it in an SGC A slab anyway. It's sentimental to me and will be passed down to someone after I'm gone - er,...unless my daughters could care less about baseball cards and have it hawked off before my corpse is cold...which is perhaps the more likely scenario.:p

I have seen extremely faded cards get a PSA 8 before. Personally I think they should get a 1 or even authentic grade. Sometimes fading is used to make a rare error version like the altered blue 58 Aaron cards scammers made.