PSA Question
 

Attachment 105638

I don't collect graded cards, but sometimes they find their way into my collection, and I'm confused by this Kaline grading. It has a 'stained' qualifier, but what in heck is that referring to? The back is perfect without any sort of discoloration and the front, as can plainly be seen, has no obvious staining. There's nothing there.

Does the 'ST' refer to those grey dots on the top left, upper middle right and left (at the fence line) white borders? I always thought that a stain meant a real stain. You know, like when your friend spilled his Coke on your Oscar Gamble card.

wax stain remnants on the front - you can see discoloration on his uniform back that isn't there on other kaline cards.

If you crack it out, lots of people have had good luck softly rubbing pantyhose over the stained area. Not sure it's worth the effort on that card, but I'm pretty sure that's what the "ST" is for

Thanks, Jim. That blows my mind that something so minor gets a qualifier.
And yeah, the pantyhose trick works like a charm. But unfortunately, my girlfriend stumbled upon my balled up pantyhose in a drawer once and asked me if I was secretly a cross dresser!!

I have several PSA cards with the ST qualifier, and the wax residue is exactly the cause of it. Two of them are HOFer cards, so it is curious as to why the original submitter would not have used the "pantyhose" trick to remove the wax residue before submitting to avoid this qualifier.

Does the pantyhose trick work for stains on the back of cards too, or only the front?

Depending on the stock the cards are printed on (for example with 66s, some of the cards are printed on a "waxier" type stock), in some cases, I have been able to remove lighter stains with the pantyhose trick.

Guys. Stop digging thru your wife's drawers. Whats next? Your wearing her dress and shoes.

I'm pretty certain the main reason the pantyhose trick works on the front of a card is due to its gloss/coating. It forms a barrier between the wax remnants and the cardboard and allows it to be easily removed. The back is an entirely different story. I've never had success with it as there always remains a darkness/stain in the cardboard.

Regarding wax stains on the back...I had a 61 Aparicio with this problem. As an experiment I tried a few drops of "Goo Gone" on a paper towel. A quick light rub and the wax was gone. Only side effect was a slight lemony smell which went away after I left the card sitting loose face down overnight. Worked perfect for me, try at your own risk if so inclined.

Stain Qualifier
 

Funny...

Not to highjack the tread, but I have a PSA question too.

I have this PSA 7 Palmer that in clearly off center, but not noted as (OS).
Anyone know why that is?

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3792/8839881089_b40e5647d7.jpg" width="293" height="500" alt="70T_Palmer PSA">

I don't think that card is so badly off center. To me, just more narrow on the left. I find that so many of 70Ts are one way or the other, at least the hundreds I pulled from packs. What should a TPG do -- condemn the half the cards from the set? They'd be lynched. That's a fine card.

The card is probably gem mint in every way except the centering or maybe
is just miss-labeled.

Thanks!

67
 

Wow nice card for a namesake. Good looking card.

Mislabeled. That looks outside the tolerances to not be. Or it was requested no qualifier and is really a 9 but the OC makes it an 8.

Red

For $5 I bought a freakin gem mint '77 Nolan Ryan that was graded EX (no qualifier) because of a relatively minor wax stain on the front. Crack the case; Easily remove wax from front of card; Mint card. Wish I could find this kind of stuff more often.