What is the most valuable vintage sportscard collection worth

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Posted By: T206Collector

Can I just get something off my chest -- I really dislike PSA. I have a genuine distate for the PSA product and label. I don't like the little red paper insert and I do not like the semi-transparent holders (do not get me started on the occasional plastic baggy). I also do not like that little PSA logo found in the corner. From their crap holders, to their inconsistent grading, to the people who live in the Matrix of the PSA Set Registry (there are no cards worth owning that are not already PSA graded), it is all just so evil and pretentious.

And I think that's basically my problem. When I read a post about the value and good will that PSA brings to the world it makes me have to run from the room screaming before I mash my keyboard into my computer monitor. They are precisely what you would not want from a grading company if you were going to start one tomorrow from scratch. This is the most obvious thing in the collecting world -- the white elephant in the corner. And yet, because they have critical market share, it's like the big corporate monopoly that continues to keep steamrolling. But how anyone can continue to get behind such a vision is really beyond me.

The problem is that there are people out there who have spent millions of dollars on the PSA product, that got too deeply invested in PSA before SGC started and before the real problems with PSA began to arise. These people cannot afford to get their cards out of PSA -- or at least, it would be very costly to get such a valuable collection out of PSA. So it stays there, perched at the top of a PSA set registry somewhere for all the world to see and marvel at.

Only I don't marvel. All I can think of is that when I sent my 40 PSA graded T206 cards in to SGC for crossover status, only 30 made the cut. The other 10? Well, there was a trimmed card and a number of PSA 5's amd 6's that actually had creases that didn't get crossed over either. I hadn't seen the creases until SGC put a big black circle around them (through a plastic sheet of course). Trouble is, PSA didn't see them either -- or didn't care.

So, when I see a PSA set registry, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "I wonder which 25% of those cards were trimmed or have creases." I can't escape it.

And that is why I do not ascribe any certain value to a PSA collection. And that is why I do not buy PSA cards without having them immediately crossed over into an SGC holder.