Grading and pock marks on '50s cards
 

Hello all. New member/former dealer (ages ago) who's gotten back into the hobby lately.

I've gotten used to most of the components of the post junk wax era of big 3 grading, but I've never sent anything in yet and haven't been able to find how very minor pockmarks on vintage post WW II cards affect the grade. Example:

https://imgur.com/8tZFy4q

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Not sure why the image didn't work
 

Link to image https://imgur.com/8tZFy4q

PSA will use a number grade of the card and then add a "qualifier" for significant issues as follow :

Typically cards with qualifiers will sell for significantly less money than a "non-qualifier" grade. I have found that most quaslifiers equate to a bout a 2 point drop in number grade except for the MC (Miscut) qualifier which tends to be a stronger hit.


Types of Qualifiers

PSA has a total of six different qualifiers that can be added to a card’s grade. You can take a deeper dive into PSA’s precise definitions of each on their site but here’s a quick hitter on the six and what they stand for:

Marks (MK) – a card that has some kind of written marking on it
Miscut (MC) – a card that has been cut incorrectly by the printer
Off Center (OC) – a card that is not well centered
Out of Focus (OF) – a card that is excessively blurry or has focal issues
Print Defect (PD) – a card with a notable factory print defect
Staining (ST) – a card with a significant stain, gum or otherwise

You should know that PSA generally has some minimum standards with these. For example, a card very slightly out of focus will probably not receive the OF designation. A card with a minute print defect may not get the PD label. Typically, the defect has to be pretty significant. That isn’t always the case, though. For example, even a card with a minimal pen mark is subject to an MK designation.

Info found at :

https://prewarcards.com/2019/07/04/p...aseball-cards/

Lonnie,

Thanks for the detailed info, but I was referring specifically to the tiny surface "pock marks" that you occasionally see (for an example, look at the card I linked to) and if/how much they'll likely affect the grade that your card will get.

In this specific case, my best guess is that the Clemente in the photo would get a PSA 5 (without the pock.....there are a few minute-sized ones). With that, I wondered if I should be expecting a 4, maybe 4.5, or even still a 5?

https://imgur.com/8tZFy4q

Testing the image again

Edit.....ok, forum newbie question too. I'm using the imgur link in the "insert image" window. Why isn't it showing up correctly?

I have a couple 1961 Topps with similar "dings". I feel I will lose 2 grades on these. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Thanks for posting.

Hmmm. If a card would be around 8ish otherwise then I'd fear a two grade ding too. But with something that's already just a decent 5, I hoped that such minor damage might be considered barely more than part of the typical modest flaws of a mid-grade card. Similar to how typical minor printing flaws wouldn't really harm a 4-5

That is the link to the image page on imgur.

This is the link to the image, you put this im IMG tags:

https://i.imgur.com/8tZFy4q.png

https://i.imgur.com/8tZFy4q.png

EDIT: code tags do not work properly on the forum as they are parsing included bbcode. :p
So in my code example, remove the space in the trailing IMG tag, or quote this post to see the different ways it was typed.

Thanks Trip!