Am I the only one who thinks the difference between PSA 9's and 10's is crazy?

[Royalsfan8515]

I can understand even double the price or maybe triple cuz of the premium...But in alot of cases the difference is 5 to 10x....Seems crazy to me. But maybe its just me. I get a 10 is perfect, but a 9 looks pretty damn good.

[luciobar1980]

Yeah, it is crazy. But so is the difference between a 7 and 9, or 6 and 8, etc etc

[Peter_Spaeth]

I'm not sure how I would use the search function to find them, but we have had countless discussions of this topic, you may not get many responses just due to fatigue.

[Royalsfan8515]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I'm not sure how I would use the search function to find them, but we have had countless discussions of this topic, you may not get many responses just due to fatigue.

Sorry I'm a newbie..my apologies...Do u agree it's crazy tho?

[pokerplyr80]

The price and population difference usually have a direct correlation. When this is taken into account it's not so crazy. But yes it's hard to justify simply looking at the difference in the quality of the card as it's often hard to see a difference at all.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Royalsfan8515

Sorry I'm a newbie..my apologies...Do u agree it's crazy tho?

As a collector yes, as an investor no because investors buy flips not cards and as Jesse said flip values are driven by populations and set registries and, frankly, egos.

[Royalsfan8515]

So u guys think from an investment standpoint I should invest in 10's over 9's

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

As a collector yes, as an investor no because investors buy flips not cards and as Jesse said flip values are driven by populations and set registries and, frankly, egos.

+1 on the egos

Frankly, half the time I can't tell the difference between an 8 and a 10, let alone a 9.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

As a collector yes, as an investor no because investors buy flips not cards and as Jesse said flip values are driven by populations and set registries and, frankly, egos.

Pretty well-stated by Pete. It's all in whether you are interested in substance or hype, fluff and especially ego. With cards that are plentiful in higher grades--say 7 or higher--there is no way that you can truly say that you're actually buying the card, rather than the plastic holder and paper slip inside. There is just not anywhere near as much substantive difference between a "9" and a "10" as the price difference would indicate. You'll notice, I believe, that the percentage increase between grades is not nearly so large in cards that are rare and significant in any grade. That having been said, I wouldn't expect the situation to change anytime soon.

Happy collecting to all,

Larry

[NotVader]

Then why respond at all PS?

[SetBuilder]

It's because the 10's come with bragging rights, and that's worth a lot of money.

[NotVader]

Kool-Aid!!

Keep drinking it in people!

I am in favor entirely of grading and all that comes with it …. what seems odd is how Collecting Public views it


"I am altering the deal …. PRAY I don't alter it any further"

[calvindog]

Maybe people buy the 10s or 9s because they tend to go up more in value? Not everyone views buying high grade cards as throwing out money, especially if the cards have a higher return on their investment.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Maybe people buy the 10s or 9s because they tend to go up more in value? Not everyone views buying high grade cards as throwing out money, especially if the cards have a higher return on their investment.

IMHO, the above statement is far too much of a generalization. It is much more likely in the long run that those cards which are significant and scarce to downright rare in any of the higher grades at all will go up substantially in value, while those "elite" level cards which are readily available in only slightly lesser grades are highly unlikely to even hold their present stratospheric values. Which card stands a better chance of being worth 10X or more what was paid for it in 10-20 years--my 1929 R316 Mel Ott rookie, one of just two graded PSA 7, with none higher, or the heavily dissed--oops, I mean discussed--1993 SP Derek Jeter in PSA 10? And that's not even taking into account the fact that Ott was clearly the far better player by virtually any objective measure which takes into account the player's worth compared to the average player of his time and different playing conditions in different eras.

As of this moment, PSA has graded 3,924 Jeter 7's; 280 Jeter 7.5's; 8,380 Jeter 8's: 281 Jeter 8.5's; 579 Jeter 9's; and 22 Jeter 10's. As another member posted, PSA tends to be very harsh on these cards, downgrading them quite a bit for the smallest of imperfections, which also means that there is not a whole lot of actual difference between an "8," or even a "7.5" and a "10." My bet is that over time, the PSA 10 Jeter will suffer the same fate as the very highest graded coins (grades 60-70 are all part of the "mint" spectrum in coin grading) which are desirable but readily available in just slightly lesser grades--after their initial surge, those "elite" level coins tended to fall the farthest and fastest.

Just as in coins, where there is very little substantive difference in the item being slabbed and graded, and the item is not at all hard to obtain in only slightly lesser numerical or technical grade, the proposition that the holder and the paper slip justify an immense difference in price in and of themselves simply won't last all that long. Instead, reality will hit hard--very hard!

Just sayin,

Larry

[RCMcKenzie]

To me the last baseball card is the 1975 Brett rookie, and that's still sort of a laugh. I've seen the prices for the Alex Bregman cards and know the hobby is in good hands.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by ls7plus

IMHO, the above statement is far too much of a generalization. It is much more likely in the long run that those cards which are significant and scarce to downright rare in any of the higher grades at all will go up substantially in value, while those "elite" level cards which are readily available in only slightly lesser grades are highly unlikely to even hold their present stratospheric values. Which card stands a better chance of being worth 10X or more what was paid for it in 10-20 years--my 1929 R316 Mel Ott rookie, one of just two graded PSA 7, with none higher, or the heavily dissed--oops, I mean discussed--1993 SP Derek Jeter in PSA 10? And that's not even taking into account the fact that Ott was clearly the far better player by virtually any objective measure which takes into account the player's worth compared to the average player of his time and different playing conditions in different eras.

As of this moment, PSA has graded 3,924 Jeter 7's; 280 Jeter 7.5's; 8,380 Jeter 8's: 281 Jeter 8.5's; 579 Jeter 9's; and 22 Jeter 10's. As another member posted, PSA tends to be very harsh on these cards, downgrading them quite a bit for the smallest of imperfections, which also means that there is not a whole lot of actual difference between an "8," or even a "7.5" and a "10." My bet is that over time, the PSA 10 Jeter will suffer the same fate as the very highest graded coins (grades 60-70 are all part of the "mint" spectrum in coin grading) which are desirable but readily available in just slightly lesser grades--after their initial surge, those "elite" level coins tended to fall the farthest and fastest.

Just as in coins, where there is very little substantive difference in the item being slabbed and graded, and the item is not at all hard to obtain in only slightly lesser numerical or technical grade, the proposition that the holder and the paper slip justify an immense difference in price in and of themselves simply won't last all that long. Instead, reality will hit hard--very hard!

Just sayin,

Larry

The 93 Jeter is the closest card to a 52 Mantle in the modern era. The most popular card of the most popular and collected player of the era. And he played for the Yankees and won several titles. That seems to matter more in the collecting world than being the better player. There are guys who played in Mantle's era you can argue were better players, but their cards will never match his in terms of popularity or value.

Since I got back into collecting the 93 Jeter in PSA 10 has already gone from selling for 30k to recent sales of 75-100k. While I'm certainly not a hobby expert I have a fair amount of knowledge and haven't heard of the Ott card you mentioned. How much has its value changed over the same time period? Without looking it up I would guess less than the 2.5-3× the Jeter has increased by. And I would place my bet on the Jeter having more long term potential.

[bbcard1]

I have a couple of 8s that look perfect to my eye.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

The 93 Jeter is the closest card to a 52 Mantle in the modern era. The most popular card of the most popular and collected player of the era. And he played for the Yankees and won several titles. That seems to matter more in the collecting world than being the better player. There are guys who played in Mantle's era you can argue were better players, but their cards will never match his in terms of popularity or value.

Since I got back into collecting the 93 Jeter in PSA 10 has already gone from selling for 30k to recent sales of 75-100k. While I'm certainly not a hobby expert I have a fair amount of knowledge and haven't heard of the Ott card you mentioned. How much has its value changed over the same time period? Without looking it up I would guess less than the 2.5-3× the Jeter has increased by. And I would place my bet on the Jeter having more long term potential.

I would assume the above post was made with tongue thoroughly in cheek. That would be incredibly sad if you never heard of Mel Ott, who was in fact the second best player in Giants' history, with an OPS+ neck and neck with Aaron and Mays. With regard to the Ott rookie, I purchased if for a bit over $1400 in a PWCC auction this spring, and have already received an offer to purchase it for a total amount of $2100, going through PWCC. You need to do some research into the coin collecting field, where there are many analogous situations to the popular but readily available in high grade Jeter. It may take awhile, but there is no way this card--auctioned by PWCC for $99,000+ a short time ago, is going to be worth 10X that in any existing member of this board's lifetime. Instead, as in popular but similar pop report coins, it will have its' time in the sun and then fall precipitously. It may cycle upwards and then fall again, as is the situation with analogous coins, but to think it fall into the category of a good investment? Maybe the sun will start rising in the west and setting in the east!

Best of luck in your collecting,

Larry