Free Postwar Cards Contest!
 

Some of you may remember I posted a few months ago asking for thoughts on whether 1950s cards that my grandmother gave me (with instructions to use them towards my son's college) were more likely to increase or decrease in value over the next 15 years. As I said in the thread, the process re-ignited my passion for collecting, so I decided not to sell the cards but "buy" them from my grandmother and put that money in his 529. I'm now working on the '57 Topps set.

To help determine my purchase price from grandma, I joined PSA and sent off 15 cards to be graded. I just got them back. I must say I was surprised at most of the results, some pleasant, but mostly negative. As I'm a first time grader, I'm sure most here are not surprised that I expected them to be graded higher!

Just for fun (and as a thanks for the good advice you guys gave me), if you follow this link http://pdfcast.org/pdf/wfubob-cards you can see and download the front and back scan of the cards I sent to be graded. Sorry for high maintenance, but I couldn't attach the .pdf here--too big. If anyone has a better suggestion to share a 1.1MB .pdf, I'm all ears.

I'd be interested in your predictions. First person that can guess all correctly (OK, except the '57T Martin which is cut off in the scan), I will send you for free (and postage on me) a '57T Rocky Colavito (rookie), Elston Howard, and Hoyt Wilhelm (all ungraded, but very similar in quality to these '57s...and I have 3 of each :)).

As a hint, all of them were whole grades, except the '53 Mantle, which was a .5. And one was returned not graded, so also guess which one that was and why.

Contest ends Sunday night at midnight eastern, and I'll post a scan of the graded cards on Monday. I'm also posting this on the ebay forum, where I also got great advice. Reply here or send me a PM with guesses. Time stamp will determine the winner, if any. Good luck :)

Bob


'53T Mantle

'54T Banks

'56T Mantle

'53B Mathews

'57T Robinson

'53B Abrams

'57T Mays

'54B Campy

'57T Drysdale

'56T Mays

'57T Williams

'57T Reese

'57T Clemente

'57T Colavito

One important edit to the contest. If noone gets all grades correct, the one with the most correct of all entries will still win. If there is a tie, my lovely wife will draw a name out of a hat :)

And to download the .pdf on that site, click the red "Download" button below the cards, not the one above the cards.

3.5,6,4,5,5,5,6 ,6,6,no grade trimmed,7,6,7 and 6

3.5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7 ,7

2.5, 5, 4, 5, 6, NG trimmed, 5, 6, 5, 4, 5, 6, 6, and 5
They look better than these grades but you said they were tough on you so I downgraded them all a bit.
Drew

3.5,5,4,6,6,5,6 ,6,6, (no grade trimmed),7,6,6 and 6

2.5, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5
...no idea which one went ungraded...

Were there any qualifiers (MC or OC)?

Should have posted that, thanks. No qualifiers.

My guesses -- This was FUN!
 

OK, Bob, here are my guesses:

'53T Mantle -- 3.5

'54T Banks -- 5

'56T Mantle -- 4

'53B Mathews -- Ungraded (bottom looks trimmed)

'57T Robinson -- 6

'53B Abrams -- 5

'57T Mays -- 6

'54B Campy -- 6

'57T Drysdale -- 6

'56T Mays -- 4

'57T Williams -- 6

'57T Reese -- 6

'57T Clemente -- 6

'57T Colavito -- 6

I'll take a shot. Here are my guesses:

'53T Mantle -- 2.5

'54T Banks -- 5

'56T Mantle -- 5

'53B Mathews -- Ungraded (evidence of trimming) or they might say doesn't meet size requirements

'57T Robinson -- 7

'53B Abrams -- 4

'57T Mays -- 6

'54B Campy -- 6

'57T Drysdale -- 3

'56T Mays -- 5

'57T Williams -- 7

'57T Reese -- 6

'57T Clemente -- 7

'57T Colavito -- 5

3.5,4,4,Trimmed,4,5,4,5,5,3,6,5,5,6

Hi Bob,

Here's my grades (I hope you got better ones):

'53T Mantle 3.5

'54T Banks 6

'56T Mantle 5

'53B Mathews N-8 Miscut

'57T Robinson 6

'53B Abrams 4

'57T Mays 5

'54B Campy 6

'57T Drysdale 6

'56T Mays 5

'57T Williams 6

'57T Reese 6

'57T Clemente 6

'57T Colavito 5

For fun... '57T Martin 7

I had sent my guesses via PM. Last week, I hope you got it.

How did the contest go? Did anyone guess them all?

Thanks all for participating. It was fun! Obviously, the quality of scan didn't allow for the best predicting. In all, there were 21 entrants. The winner got 11/14 correct.

The predictions compared to actual grades were pretty consistent with my reaction when I got them. The "thank-your-lucky-stars" winner was '56T Mantle, which somehow got a 5 (most predicted 4). Not that I'm selling, but I couldn't list that at 5 pricing with a straight face, with the obvious rubber band dings. Although the corners and back are really nice. The "candidate-possible-for-resubmission" winner was the '57T Williams, which also got a 5 (most predicted 6 or 7). Must have been the centering that got me.

Below are the actual grades. I'll post the slabbed scans later. I've checked and double-checked the entries, but if for some reason I misread yours and you think you got 11 or better, please let me know. Thanks again, was really interesting!

'53T Mantle - 2.5

'54T Banks - 5

'56T Mantle - 5

'53B Mathews - miscut

'57T Robinson - 7

'53B Abrams - 4

'57T Mays - 5

'54B Campy - 5

'57T Drysdale - 6

'56T Mays - 5

'57T Williams - 5

'57T Reese - 5

'57T Clemente - 7

'57T Colavito - 5

And, BTW, the 57T Martin was a 6

Bob

Attached are the slab scans. Sorry for making you stand on your head to view them properly, still learning to scan :)

Included back to the '57 Williams. Anyone see why that got a 5? Centering?

And the Robinson doesn't have a white line through it...I need a new scanner if I'm gonna get serious about this...

Attachment 61834

Attachment 61832

Attachment 61836

Attachment 61835

Attachment 61833

You're right about standing on your head! What I really wondered though was who won? I'm too lazy to go back and compare all of the entries.:confused:

All in all, that's not too shabby! Especially the F Robby and Clemente.

Yes, I was really pleased with the Clemente and F Robby, in addition to the '56 Mantle. Was hoping for 6 with Banks for obvious reasons, but no qualms with the 5.

GHG, the winner wasn't off here, someone named wallymac757 or something that PM'd me on the Bay. He/she missed only the Teddy Ballgame (as did everyone save 1 I think), the '55 Mays, and the '57 Reese.

Thanks for the scans, Bob! It was nice to see the end result of your (and our) efforts from The Great Guessing Game of 2012! Very cool to see your PSA 7s! I think the poor registration was one of the primary reasons that some of your other '57s got only a 5. Just my opinion. (And my opinion's not worth a heck of a lot, especially considering I only got three right in the GGG of '12.) :o