Help with a grading question

[jchcollins]

From a pure financial perspective, you may be best advised to not spend the money to grade those kinds of cards - assuming these junk era stars you are talking about are not gem mint rookies or some kind of valuable 90's parallels or inserts.

Many run of the mill 1980's cards are not going to grade super high even if they look nice because the techniques used in their production more closely resemble that of vintage cards than they do of the shiny, die cut things we pull out of packs today. Also, in the era before grading - even though most kids were aware of the importance of condition - the cards got played with and shuffled around loose a lot more than happens today. You have to remember, "mint" to us back then was about like a PSA 6 or 7 today. Centering wasn't really even considered. And Jose Canseco base cards in a PSA 7 are not going to be worth more than the same cards raw.

Just my opinion. Sometimes you might want to have a certain card in a slab even if it is not technically worth it due to sentimental value or something like that, and that is ok too. Most of us have done it.

[camaro69]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

From a pure financial perspective, you may be best advised to not spend the money to grade those kinds of cards - assuming these junk era stars you are talking about are not gem mint rookies or some kind of valuable 90's parallels or inserts.

Many run of the mill 1980's cards are not going to grade super high even if they look nice because the techniques used in their production more closely resemble that of vintage cards than they do of the shiny, die cut things we pull out of packs today. Also, in the era before grading - even though most kids were aware of the importance of condition - the cards got played with and shuffled around loose a lot more than happens today. You have to remember, "mint" to us back then was about like a PSA 6 or 7 today. Centering wasn't really even considered. And Jose Canseco base cards in a PSA 7 are not going to be worth more than the same cards raw.

Just my opinion. Sometimes you might want to have a certain card in a slab even if it is not technically worth it due to sentimental value or something like that, and that is ok too. Most of us have done it.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.Everything makes perfect sense. maybe I should just go back and grade some vintage non sport.In your opinion would it make any difference if I told you that all these cards were pulled out of factory sets. So other than me pulling them they have never been handled. Thanks again.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by camaro69

In your opinion would it make any difference if I told you that all these cards were pulled out of factory sets. So other than me pulling them they have never been handled. Thanks again.

Not really. Some of the funkiest miscut cards I ever saw when I was a kid came out of factory sets. If you have well-centered cards that have never been handled, that bodes well yes - but I would not think you automatically have any kind of edge in grading just because the cards at one point were part of a factory set. Good luck with whatever you decide on the grading...

[Rad_Hazard]

Originally Posted by camaro69

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.Everything makes perfect sense. maybe I should just go back and grade some vintage non sport.In your opinion would it make any difference if I told you that all these cards were pulled out of factory sets. So other than me pulling them they have never been handled. Thanks again.

I will echo jchcollins sentiments as well. Being pulled from factory sets certainly helps, but even then, then, those years still very susceptible to centering, edges, corners, etc. It's very difficult to get a 10 which would be almost the only way you would be able to recover your grading fees. The only exception would be Tiffany sets in which 9's could help you break even or even profit.

[camaro69]

Thanks a lot for all the input. This will help with me making a decision.I guess I am just getting excited about maybe getting into the grading of cards.
Maybe I should shift my focus,if baseball is what I want to grade.I could always pick out a hundred cards from early OPC baseball sets. I have a lot of
that as well. Thanks again for your comments.

[swarmee]

When you say Roger Clemens RC, are you talking the 84 Fleer Update, or the 85 Topps/Donruss/Fleer?
For me, if the price of the raw card is under $50, there's no chance an SGC 8 is going to ever increase the card value more than the grading fee for this type of mass-produced card.
If it was the Fleer Update, at least it would be worthy of consideration.

[camaro69]

Originally Posted by swarmee

When you say Roger Clemens RC, are you talking the 84 Fleer Update, or the 85 Topps/Donruss/Fleer?
For me, if the price of the raw card is under $50, there's no chance an SGC 8 is going to ever increase the card value more than the grading fee for this type of mass-produced card.
If it was the Fleer Update, at least it would be worthy of consideration.

I am not trying to increase the value the cost of the grading above the raw cost.So right now these cards are sitting in a box doing nothing. So I figure the if I get them graded and it only gets an 8. Can I get my $23 back for grading.Yes I am hoping that I have the odd 10 in the 100 card lot .And if I do I will not be concerned in the least about what the 8's sell for.Worst case is every card grades an 8 and I try to recover that $23 grading fee fee for each card.This will be more of an experiment for me.If it fails then I am OK with that. Move on to the next experiment with this hobby.

[icurnmedic]

Looks like avg SGC 8 1985 topps Clemens is sitting around $24 (just estimating)in the eBay sold section.
Not worth the aggravation imho..
FWIW I like to buy that kind of already graded card.
I have hundreds from the 1980’s..
It is like I’m buying the holder at a discount and getting the card for free…
Regards, Thomas