Thoughts on a card collection

[EYECOLLECTVINTAGE]

Originally Posted by bnorth

You did say you did not understand grading. It is apparent in your for sale post of the 75 mini cards. They are not even close to NM-MT.

Yes PSA is a joke but I rarely see cards under graded for people. With them it is more over grading for some submitters.

Which one of the cards were not NMMT other than the Carter out of curiosity. I put the carter as a 6 because the gloss is there and most corners.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by EYECOLLECTVINTAGE

Which one of the cards were not NMMT other than the Carter out of curiosity. I put the carter as a 6 because the gloss is there and most corners.

I feel they're all 6's and 7's. I see at least a touch or two on every card, corner or border. centering issues and diamond cut issues. You MIGHT sneak an eight out of that group but I would be surprised, and that's going by an unmagnified scan. If I had them in hand it would likely be worse news.

[Beastmode]

Looking at your cards posted, I would not send those in. off-center and worn corners. Guessing 5-6's? I collect both high end raw and PSA 9's for this year. But I also have an extensive cardboard lab to look at cards.

Don't worry, lot's of folks think they have NM-MT raw cards. 99% of them are wrong also.

[irishdenny]

Hey There Stephen!,

I'm a Lil Late to the Party However,
If You Wanting PSA 10's:

1st off ~ Put aside the Cards that are Off Center, Diamond Cut etc...
2nd ~ Same wit Surface damage
3rd ~ Same wit Dinged Corner's
4th ~ Same wit Edge wear, Damage

And You Can Really Do a Good Job By Purchasing One of These:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gim6Kht6o

Get Rid of the Loupe, it'll Only Cause You issues...
Because You Won't SEE the ABOVE ISSUEs!!!

GLTY!!!

[toledo_mudhen]

and my 2 cents worth..... I find that there is nothing quite like an oversized, high quality scan to bring me back down to reality.

Stuff you cant see just looking at "card in hand" jumps out in all of it's painful glory.

7s are usually fairly difficult to determine

8s are almost impossible and

9s don't exist in the wild

As for your 4 - I suspect there is a wrinkle on the card that you are not seeing. Any wrinkle/crease, no matter how insignificant, automatically drops the grade to a 5 at best.

[buymycards]

Hi Stephen, I have another piece of unsolicited advice for you. If you are going to sell cards, especially cards that are described as NM/MT, you need to purchase a scanner. Cell phone pictures don't cut it, and I never buy higher end cards from a cell phone photo.

Good luck,

Rick

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Beastmode

Looking at your cards posted, I would not send those in. off-center and worn corners. Guessing 5-6's? I collect both high end raw and PSA 9's for this year. But I also have an extensive cardboard lab to look at cards.

Don't worry, lot's of folks think they have NM-MT raw cards. 99% of them are wrong also.

And thats the reason why buying graded cards makes sense. All of the argument of what NM-MT is

[Timbegs]

A nice flashlight in a dark room helps, too. Turn the raw card at EVERY angle, especially over the edge and from EACH corner. If there's anything - a dimple, a ripple, a gloss break, a slight ding to any corner, it is probably 5 at best.

As a general buying rule, I think is is smart to assume the raw cards you buy are overstated by at least one grade. As a seller, I think overstating by more than one is unethical but not criminal. Caveat emptor always applies.

It has been my experience that raw midgrade cards have a lesser chance of being overgraded and are under graded with greater frequency.

Lastly, while it WILL cost you few bucks up front you can do what I did:

Buy high graded examples of the cheapest cards in your set (a 6, 7, 8, 9. Skip ten. Too rare and like chasing rainbows. Hope for the best with any 9 you submit but play lotto, then, too).
Study them and use them as a point of comparison for your raw cards. Never give your own cards a 'break' - if you think you may see something, it counts. Be as tough as you can on your own cards and you will be disappointed less often.

Good luck to you.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by Timbegs

A nice flashlight in a dark room helps, too. Turn the raw card at EVERY angle, especially over the edge and from EACH corner.

I can see a flashlight in a dark room working well....I use an OttLite in a dark room to "pick through" cards closely, this setup has worked well for me for many years.

[mintacular]

Don't forget to check border "chipping", especially on darker border cards like 71s and 75s. Do a completed listing of PSA 8 or 9 on eBay and look up and down those cards and ask yourself if you have ones that resemble them. Chances are not on the vast majority. For high grade stuff basically the card has to be fresh out of the pack with razor sharp corners, great centering, no snow or printing lines/defects, edges that don't have the chips, etc. As stated centering will usually winnow down your crop vastly off the bat, don't forget top to bottom, for example on '72s are to determine but many are o/c but doesn't jump out...