Mid-Grade Collectors

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Marchillo

Really nice Mantle - Mine is a PSA 2. I got mine on Amazon. Basically I had a lot of credit card points and even though the conversion rate on Amazon sucks, I was able to obtain the card without spending a penny. Mine is nicely centered as well but has some creasing and other issues. I'd say it presents very well for the grade. But to get that card in say a PSA 5/6 it would probably be the only purchase I made for 6 months!

I do agree with one poster - A 1956 Ted Williams in PSA 4 condition is great for me but not really a fan of say a 1975 Robin Yount in a PSA 4. That card is still cheap in PSA 7 lets say. It's all about price point for me and for 99% of cards from 1954 to 1969 I can buy cards in VGEX condition without a problem. Some exceptions would be the 56 Mantle, 55 Koufax/Clemente etc.

Thanks. My Mantle has no creases, but the corners are pretty rough. I would expect it to get either a 1 or an A for the paper loss, but have no plans to send it in.

I would agree that for most 50's and early 60's cards, VG-EX 4 is a very nice grade. Most 4's are not going to have noticeable creasing, generally they just have corner wear or other issues that are not acceptable for a 5. I have a '61 Topps Aaron right now that is a perfectly centered 4.5 and one of my favorite cards. It was really at that sweet spot where eye-appeal and price tag met.

Will agree with you that it's hard for me to look at VG or lower range once out of the 1950-60's. I'm considering doing the 1970 Topps set, and those cards in a 3 or 4 look a bit rough. The good thing of course is that it's also cheaper to get 70's cards in the 6+ range. Also I think going back to the 50's for lower grades - if you think about it, the cards then were the bigger size and the card stock was better / thicker. I think that's why some of them don't look so awful in grades 2 - 4. By the 1970's the card stock sucked in comparison and those cards got nastier quicker.