PSA 10 v PSA 9.5 v PSA 9
 

I have been hearing some cards that are PSA 10 being 'high end' PSA 10 and low end.....which makes me wonder why there are no PSA 9.5s

why not have PSA 9.5s for the PSA 10s that are 'low end' and just reserve PSA 10 for the best of the best cards......

Just wondering why PSA 9.5 don't exist... you would think they would get more resubmissions.....

When you say, "I've been hearing" are you referring to seller's saying in their listing that the cards they are offering are "higher end 10's"?

there are posts on net54..where people are saying the fact someone is saying 'higher end 10' or something to that effect shows how ridiculous a third party grade of 10 is......

I think psa should go to quarter increments:

10.25 = High end 10
10.00 = Mid grade 10
9.75 = Low end 10
9.50 = Super high end 9
9.25 = High end 9
9.00 = Mid grade 9.

That will solve all problems.

Better yet lets go to 1/8th's

10.125 = high mid grade 10
9.875 = low mid grade 10.

Yeah that's it lets go to 1/8th's

Or just keep the 100 pt scale that SGC started, but actually have grades for every number between 1 and 100.

but this one goes to 11.

http://caimages.collectors.com/psaim...pinaltap11.jpg

Here's my respoonse, although it seems you're just bashing/fishing/trolling.

1) PSA started their 10 point system with Gem Mint in 1998-ish. Before then, were cards ever referred to as Gem Mint? That was the new high standard.

2) BGS started grading cards later and wanted to attract new customers, so they invented the Pristine 10 (and last year introduced the Black Label All 10 subgrades), notching Gem Mint down to 9.5 .

3) I don't know when SGC started grading cards, and I don't see it on their website. But either they did it after PSA but before BGS, or after both of them.

4) PSA will not change their max grade of Gem Mint because it could require them to perform "mechanical error" corrections for FREE on every card if they changed their grading scale. There also seems to be no demand/need for adding a Pristine grade through PSA.

PSA and SGC will some be coming out with the PSA 11 and SGC 105 grades.

I think they get enough resubmissions now. They just need to go to a 12 scale. 11 Pristine and 12 Perfect. Now that would clear up all the low/high end 10 confusion.;)

How about no 10's , only 9 Mint? How is a card better than Mint? No that card is only Mint, this baby is Gem Mint!

Should be graded 1-100. Centering should be by computer (ie. if 58/42 ) then only so high of a grade could be made. Cornering, etc. would reduce the number. If a crease, then maybe start at 50 and go down from there based on all other grading factors. Seems like someone with computer IQ could develop a great software program and blow all the other sevices off the board. Each card could be analyzed by a laser or something else and take more of the human element out of it.

SGC already has a Pristine grade. It is 100. Gem Mint is 98 with Mint being 96.

PWCC has already auctioned off PWCC Certified High End PSA 10s...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1984-Topps-F...p2047675.l2557

Exactly my feeling. It's an artificial grade.

I think that was discussed somewhere before. To me, it makes no sense.

A 10 is allowed to be slightly off center and can have a minor print defect. One 10 can be better than another. Especially on newer cards. Plus the chance to cross to a BGS 10 could lead to a huge payoff if you're lucky

There are mint grades in coins from 60 through 70--that may well be where we are heading!

Regards,

Larry

I've seen the term "gem mint" in hobby articles/ads from the 1970s, though it was an informal description and not a technical term. PSA started grading cards in 1991, not 1998, and I believe they used the same 10-point scale from the beginning. The first TPG, Alan Hager's Accugrade, started in 1989, and I think it used the same 10-point scale. Certainly, "Hager's Comprehensive Guide to Rare Baseball Cards, 1886 to Present", published in 1993, describes a 10-point scale with the same descriptions PSA uses today, including "GEM MINT" for 10. (In this book Hager repeatedly describes this 10-point scale as copyrighted by him, and I think PSA may have had to pay him royalties until his company collapsed in scandal.)

It's the silliest damn thing I ever heard, but this is, again, why I believe there's a market for a fourth party grading service. You send in your psa graded cards and a team of experts will add one of three designations: happy monkey, normal monkey, or sad monkey. If the "experts" designate your card "happy monkey", you get rich!

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/z...psdn2e88ua.jpg

rather than graders
 

I would have thought your image to be that of card doctors monkeying around before posting their latest creations on the 'Bay. They look too old to be PSA graders. I hear they're also responsible for the forged "banana" Mantle's.