Grading card company rules............

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

How many board members have sent cards to 3rd party graders and had them damaged during the process? Has anyone noticed that instead of admitting that they dinged a corner, they just give the card the appropriate grade and send it on? Do you think this is a standard policy? Or an employee way of covering up mistakes? Either way it ends up putting overgraded cards in the market, and undermines the credibility of there services.

This is not meant to start a huge debate between the Grading companies, because I know we've done it a few hundred times. I just wanted to share my experience and seek to explain the wide variances I see in graded material. I will try to post an example tomorrow when my temporary file won't be full. Be well Brian

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I sent a 1959 Drysdale into the darkest depths of Mordor (PSA) where it was graded 9 o/c. When I sent it in and when it was graded, it was a screamer that was perhaps 35:65 left to right. I got it back and the upper right corner was bent. A tiny bend of perhaps 1/4" in length, diagonally across the corner, like someone had brushed up against it and just avoided creasing it. Not creased, bent, curled if you like. But it screamed out at me when I viewed the card because (science here) the light reflected differently from that corner than the rest of the card because the corder was at a different angle than the rest of the card.

I screamed bloody murder and demanded that PSA compensate me. Steve Rocchi handled the situation. He first told me that he would check the grading records to see whether the card had been damaged in their possession. When I pressed him on this after he said that the card must not have been damaged by them (I asked to see these grading records), he admitted that there are no records. He asked that I return the card to evaluate it for compensation. I sent it back. A few weeks later, I got it back, encapsulated in a new PSA 9 o/c holder, with the corner perfectly straight. Someone apparently smoothed it back into place.

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Posted By: Morrie

So, let me get this straight.

On second thought, no. Let me just say that based on your description, it sounds very much like in the process of re-slabbing your Drysdale, PSA engaged in some small form of card doctoring to justify the grade they had assigned the card. While it may be as simple as "smoothing out" the corner, isn't that also modifying the card in a manner that creates a more presentable card than what existed prior to the operation, and therefore something that they would (claim to) refuse to grade if someone outside their grading room performed the minor restorative work?

I have no problem with PSA making things right when they screw up. But I really don't like the precedent this kind of "fix" for their grading room problems implies.

Morrie

p.s. Note that this is not intended to be the start of an anti-PSA flame; I own more PSA graded cards than any other company, and just hope I'm mis-interpreting or over-analyzing what you said.

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Posted By: MW

edited

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Posted By: telspee

I just had the same thing happen. I sent out a card with four good corners and got it back with one frayed

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

Any chance the first Drysdale you received back was not the original and when you had to resubmit might it you got back the original card you sent in? There are plenty of cards and there and it would not take alot to replace a sent in card for a caard in inventory, which would really be scary.

Lee