Beckett Price Guide 2 Columns in PSA terms??

[mferronibc]

Ok, I know there will never be a true answer to this from Beckett because PSA is a competing card grading company but considering PSA is the dominant player in vintage grading - does anyone have an idea of what PSA grade the 2 columns in a Beckett price guide reflect? Even the Beckett website has this convoluted answer of Lo and Hi where Hi would be the trade value (or price at a retail shop) and Lo would be the cash price (or price at a card show). HUH?

In full disclosure, I subscribe to Beckett Vintage Collector which I love mainly for the incredible articles (sounds like the 1980s bachelor justifying a Playboy subscription) and love looking at the color auction adds with beautiful cards I will never own. I use PSA completed auction data generally for accurate price comps but have lately been interested more in the price guide to get an idea of the value of certain cards I may want to look into.

So leads me back to the columns. Considering my most valuable card - 1960 Topps Mantle #350, which I keep a very close eye on, this month lists it as $500/$1000 which basically correlates to PSA 5/PSA 6. Seems like such a narrow range for grades. Another example T206 commons listed as $50/$100 which to me seems more like PSA 3/PSA 4. Maybe it is a moving target considering how old the set is and likelihood of higher grades?

[swarmee]

Normally there is a key in the front of those magazines or books which explains the standard condition, like NM for the 1970s cards or EX for 1950s cards. LO is the wholesale price, like what you'd pay at a flea market or the "friend" price. HI is the retail price, what a dealer would want to sell at to pay all their card store overhead.

But... price guides are almost completely worthless and you should use eBay sold values.

[mferronibc]

Ha thanks John and agree with your summary point. I’ll pretty much use it just to get a birds eye on RCs in each set, etc. I am a big fan of the magazine otherwise though and just reupped my subscription.