Grading MC / OC Cards

[Tere1071]

I'll give you an example of my 53 Bowman Berra and Musial; I believe they would have been qualified if graded by PSA. However, I think they received an overall lower grade due to the centering.

[mjhdrew]

Thanks Phil. That's useful guidance.

[jchcollins]

My current thinking on the matter after watching a lot of YouTube videos is that SGC is slightly more lenient on MC than PSA.

Back in the day, "MC" was generally understood as cards that were so OC they were missing entire borders, showing part of the adjacent card on the other border, etc. etc. But here lately, PSA has also been known to reject vintage cards as miscut due to things like egregious tilt, diamond cutting, or just wonkiness where the card may be like 1/16 factory large in one direction and things like that.

SGC may be tougher in this regard than they were 10 years ago, (they sure as hell have gotten tougher on centering...) but I have seen them even recently be willing to slab cards that have slight cut irregularities that I feel like PSA probably would not.

My $0.02. Thanks.

[mjhdrew]

Thanks John - appreciate it. 2-3 of the cards I'm thinking of are like Phil's Yogi Berra (or even a bit more OC), so his photo and your comment suggest that sticking with SGC may be best as I'll get a better looking holder without the grading being punative. Fingers crossed!

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by mjhdrew

Thanks John - appreciate it. 2-3 of the cards I'm thinking of are like Phil's Yogi Berra (or even a bit more OC), so his photo and your comment suggest that sticking with SGC may be best as I'll get a better looking holder without the grading being punative. Fingers crossed!

Yep, no problem. SGC in the past was always a bit of a safe haven for cards that had mild cut or centering issues to still get a fair shake with the grade. That's not so much the case anymore, but I do think they are still less harsh than PSA. They do have better looking slabs too, all day long. It's always been perplexing to me that most graded collectors in the hobby are more seduced by the PSA registry than better looking holders!

[GasHouseGang]

If you were to submit those to PSA and ask for "no qualifiers", I'm sure they would come back with regular grades. Neither of those look MC, just off-center which they aren't required to note. If a card is a 7, but would be 7 OC, they just make it a straight PSA 5. Many people prefer a straight grade and will request it to avoid qualifiers.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

If you were to submit those to PSA and ask for "no qualifiers", I'm sure they would come back with regular grades. Neither of those look MC, just off-center which they aren't required to note. If a card is a 7, but would be 7 OC, they just make it a straight PSA 5. Many people prefer a straight grade and will request it to avoid qualifiers.

If a card is truly MC though, you can't opt out of that qualifier. They will either put it on the flip, or send your card back to you raw.