1953 Topps Mantle PSA Guess The Grade

[bnorth]

1.5

[NATCARD]

[Tyruscobb]

Originally Posted by NATCARD

Wow - extremely strong 2.5! I thought it would grade 3.5 to 4.0.

[Bigdaddy]

I'd grade it VN - Very Nice. Great looking Mick. Staring over his shoulder at the ghost of Joe D, not imagining what lies before him - five more WS Championships, three MVPs, a Triple Crown and a spot in Monument Park and Cooperstown. And some late nights at the Copa and Toot's with Whitey and Billy.

Oh to be young again.

[Dandor]

The 2.5 is how PSA grades those these days and is very consistent. SGC would grade it a little higher, they definitely give eye-appeal more consideration for lower grades. Probably a SGC 3.5 from my experience.

The majority of people here guessed 2.5, which shows you how consistent PSA is. For vintage collectors though, the grade is only part of that equation. The centering makes it just as valuable as any PSA 4 I have seen.

[ClementeFanOh]

Most important point- GREAT card!

Dandor 1- PSA is "consistent"? I hope you were being sarcastic, wow...

Trent King

[Dandor]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Most important point- GREAT card!

Dandor 1- PSA is "consistent"? I hope you were being sarcastic, wow...

Trent King

PSA in my experience has been very consistent. Out of 300 plus cards I have sent, there has been only a few that were not very close to my guess. Two of them were completely my fault as I missed something like a surface crease.

However, I just entered back into the hobby in late 2019. There are obvious differences from newer and older labels, PSA definitely has changed standards over the years.

I will say over this past year, PSA has been a tad easier with my submissions. I have graded a ton of Mattingly's and McHale rookie cards that were very similar. Most came from vending cases. In 2020 the Mattingly's that I thought were slightly better and graded first, came all back as PSA 8's. The cards graded in 2021 that I thought weren't as good and put in future submissions came back as PSA 8's and I got a few 9's. Same thing with my McHales. In 2020 they were all 7's and 8's and 2021 they were 8's and I got a 9. From my experience I have seen a slightly looser grading standard recently and have gotten back many more junk wax PSA 10's then I did over a year ago.

While PSA has gotten easier IMO, SGC has been getting a tad tougher in my experience. Some of the most recent cards I have gotten back would grade 1 or 2 grades higher at PSA. If you want value for vintage, look at SGC 5 and SGC 6 grades. There are some amazing examples in those grades at the moment.