I cracked a 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle White Letter PSA 5 EX. Probably shouldn't have, it would be worth a lot more nowadays in the case.
When grading started, I wasn't sure if I wanted in on it or not. Right off the bat, I had several bad experiences with PSA. For one, I wasn't impressed with their grading acumen. I would see a card graded EX, and it would be VG/EX at best.
Then I bought that Mantle. It was in a telephone auction, no pictures provided. This was way before eBay. The auction would always describe ungraded cards, and their description would always be very accurate. When graded cards started showing up, the telephone auction wouldn't give a description of those cards, just the grade.
It turned out the Mantle had a very pronounced slant cut, like a parallelogram. PSA had no qualifiers on the grade, just a straight 5. Needless to say, I was very disappointed when I received it.
Although the card I received way back then is well worth what I paid for it, if it was a true 5 it would be worth so much more.
I've always thought SGC is way more accurate and consistent in their grading. It is amazing how much PSA has been able to dominate the market. Especially when you consider the first card ever graded by PSA was the hand cut T206 Honus Wagner which got PSA NM/MT 8, instead of an authentic, as it should have. Is it the Registry that makes them #1 ?
While I now own a decent amount of graded cards, I have still never sent a card in to be graded. I always try to stick to "buy the card, not the holder".
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03-15-2021, 09:42 AM
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