better grading strategy?

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Posted By: rob

Wonder what people have done in the past in this scenario: got a card back from a grading company and thought the grade was at least 2 grades away from what it deserves. Have you ever sent cards in to be re-graded? any track record on how the re-grading goes?

The second question/option, is it better to send it in for regrading or break it out of the shell and send it in raw again? I wonder if the pre-conceived notion of a grade impacts the grader when they are re-examining a card.

thanks.

ps I am asking about a t206 HOF card where 2 grades is a substantial value difference.

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Posted By: tbob

Rob- I am sure everyone has a different strategy but if I were you, I would break the card out and send it to a different grading company. Ex.- if you got the grade from SGC, send it to PSA or GAI, or vice-versa.

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Posted By: Bryan Long

But I would say that sending it in to get re-graded would serve no purpose unless you are considering another grading company. Cracking it out of its case is an option - at least you know that it will grade. I recently cracked out a card of a PSA case and sent it to SGC to have it returned to me a trimmed. I guess lesson learned there. Another grading company grade it differently but I don't see the worth in sending into the same company to have re-graded. Just my 2 cents.

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Posted By: Julie

Since they don't know what they're doing, and automatically downgrade older cards, just to cover theier butts,

It's sort of like playing Russian roulette...but with only 3 bullets.

(Just making a joke; I never get cards graded by anyone.)



PLEASE EXCUSE FRIVOLOTY!

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Posted By: Josh K.

In the last month or two, I have sent about 30 cards to sgc to be crossed over from psa or gai slabs. Of those cards, most got an identical grade. Ive had about 5 that did not cross over b/c they would not meet my minimum grade (ie would have dropped a grade), Ive had a few that got 1/2 grade hits (particularly cards graded 3.5 or 6.5 where sgc has no equivilent). Ive also had four cards bump up - a t206 Keeler portrait from a psa 4 to an sgc 60; a t206 bresnahan portrait from a 4 to a 60; a 59 topps gibson rookie from a 5 to a 70 (5.5); and a 55 topps Killebrew rc from a gai 6.5 to an 84 (7).

If you want a higher grade, your best bet is sending it raw - but then you risk it not getting slabbed at all (as noted above).

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Posted By: JimB

SGC seems like the one that is willing to bump up a grade. A year or two ago I brought a PSA 4 E95 Wagner to the SGC grading booth at a show. I was convinced that it was an ex card and SGC agreed and crossed it over to an SGC 60. I do not know it for a fact, but I am pretty sure PSA would never cross any card over to a higher grade. Does anybody have evidence to the contrary?

I also crossed a PSA 7 E93 Wiltse to a GAI 7.5 and a PSA 2 T206 Magie to a GAI 2.5. Of course these are half grades t hat PSA does not have. The Wiltse is a borderline mint card with centering being its only problem. The Magie is VG with light creasing.
JimB

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Posted By: Peter Thomas

I have had both PSA and SGC raise grades of the others cards, but not very often. At last year's National I had a SGC 60 T204 Thomas Jones cross over to a PSA 6 and a SGC 60 T205 Cady cross over to a PSA 6. I submitted 39 cards to PSA for cross over, 3 went up a grade, 5 did not cross over for min grade and 1 evid/trim. The other 30 crossed over at the same grade (2 plus 1/2 and 2 minus 1/2). I also submitted 23 PSA cards to SGC for cross over with no min grade requirement. 1 card was raised a grade, 17 crossed over within 1/2 grade, and 5 were down graded 1, 2 or 3 grades these were all n172's where SGC is really harsh on backs, but since their holders for these cards are so much better looking and safer than the baggies I had all of my PSA 172's crossed over except for a PSA 8 horizontal Matimore.

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Posted By: tbob

I can only give you my recent grading experiences. I cracked open 5 SGC slabs and submitted the cards raw and PSA graded 3 higher, 1 lower, 1 the same. Also, PSA graded 3 HOF cards which SGC said were trimmed. SGC graded 2 HOF cards which PSA said were trimmed. Of the 5 cards, I felt only 1 was truly trimmed.
I would NEVER send off a slab to another company and ask for a cross-over, I would crack it open and send it raw. The only exception would be if I were trying to collect every card in a set graded and by the same company, I did this with the 1910 Obaks set of 150 cards and SGC has graded all of them, (harshly, but still graded) except the single card I am missing from the set (Mohler if anyone has one for sale in any condition).
I much prefer the SGC holders for caramel cards for aesthetic reasons (I hate the way the cards float in those PSA condons) BUT (and this is a big but), PSA cards still bring more money and I think their caramel card grading is fairer.