Posted By:
steve kDave - Your experience with PSA is quite typical of a first time submitter and the exact same thing happened to me. Once understanding how to grade though, you'll find those grades you received to be accurate for the most part. Included in my first PSA submission were two Topps 1965 Mantles. One was perfectly centered, beautifully printed, had crisp focus, but had a slight ding at one of the corners. Basically flawless except for that ding. The other was slightly off centered, not especially well printed, the ink was a little light, but it had 4 sharp corners. To me the first mentioned card was much preferable yet that card received a 5 and the other card received a 7. I am a big stickler on centering - I would rather have a well centered 5 type of card than an off centered 7. I sold the 7 and kept the 5 simply because to me the 5 was a better card.
Grading is a game of corners - that is the first thing to key in on when determining a grade then step back and look at the card for other flaws and even features such as centering. I prefer a 16X lighted magnifying glass which really brings out the imperfections in a card - especially when making a decision to purchase a card at a show where the lighting sometimes isn't all that good. Remember that an old saying is "buy the card not the holder." Don't assume because a card is a PSA 8 that it is a "magnificent" card. Grading is a good guideline, but then a card should still be examined to suit your tastes as a collector.
Steve