Need advice, PSA grading at National??
 

Looking for some advice from our experienced Net54 members. As I understand from reading other threads on Blowout, PSA sets up at the National. I am going to my very first National and that in itself is a bit overwhelming but I am also thinking about taking some PC cards to be graded just to acknowledge they are authentic. It is also the first time I will be having cards I own graded. I have four of my more iconic cards I would like to get graded. All four have some condition issues so I would like to just get them graded "authentic" for authenticity. I am pretty sure of three of the cards but I have a question on my '51 Bowman Mantle. I also a five other cards I would like to get a number grade on. I have scans of the cards I intend to take and all these cards are in my PC and I intend to keep them there. My questions are as follows.

1. Can I request an " authentic" grade and what does it cost (is it more than a number grade)?

2. Do you recommend getting them graded at the National.

3. Will it cost more to have bigger name cards like Ruth, Mantle, Clemente RC even if the condition is less compared to grading a modern card.

4. Would you recommend I purchase a Platinum package and will it work with the cards I have scanned?

Thanks for looking and look forward to some direction. Here are the scans.

Cards I would like to get graded authentic.
http://toddjenkins.wikispaces.com/fi...0Ty%20Mick.jpg

http://toddjenkins.wikispaces.com/fi...ick%20Back.jpg

Cards I would like to get number graded.
http://toddjenkins.wikispaces.com/fi...ut%20Judge.jpg

http://toddjenkins.wikispaces.com/fi...dge%20Back.jpg

I don't know if they just do "authentic"

If they do and there isn't a huge price difference, I'd go with a number on all of them. Assuming you really want to grade them, personally I wouldn't unless I was selling them)
The number won't matter much for lower grades, and avoids people thinking the card has problems that got it relegated to being merely "authentic"

I agree with that. Always get a number grade so a future buyer knows the card is deemed unaltered (not trimmed, recolored, paper added). It will drive more demand for your card since it will score higher in a PSA Registry Set.

Number grades...on all of them

I know everyone in the thread has pretty much said it before, but let me be specific. Even though you want to keep them in your own collection, you still should approach the situation as a seller. If you get something graded as "authentic," people are going to immediately think there is something nefariously wrong with the card (recolored, restored, trimmed, etc., etc.). But if you put a number on it, all of those thoughts sort of disappear, especially since you can plainly see the obvious problems with the cards (missing paper, etc.). So, even a card graded as a '1' will be more attractive to someone than "authentic."

PSA Grading
 

Last year at the National in Atlantic City, I stood in line for almost 3 hours to have a set of 1933 Sport Kings submitted for grading. I was in line on Saturday AM when the doors opened and there were 75 people ahead of me. My suggestion would be to try to go to the show one of the days during the week and to get in line as the show opens. The lines may not be as long during the week. On the other hand SGC and Beckett employees were twiddling their thumbs most of the time when I was waiting at PSA.

Bob