Grade A Gans

[G1911]

I did my monthly crack of graded cards I've accumulated. Generally I find 1 or 2 undergraded, some what I would grade them and more overgraded than anything when it comes to this issue. I am just harsher on corners and chipping to the silver than PSA and SGC are, I think is part of it. This one though had me scratching my head.

It has a small notch at the top, what I would consider significant but not huge corner wear to the left corners (bottom left is flared out a bit, extending part of the border below the bottom border of the rest of the card), not insignificant corner wear to the right corners, and a solid crease in the top left over half the cards length. Back is clean.

What would you grade this card? I'll post the slip after, though it's easy to pick this listing off the eBay sold ones and cheat .

I would call this a 3 if it didn't have the crease, a 2.5 G-VG due to the crease.

[RCMcKenzie]

It used to be that a tobacco card that was in nice shape with a crease was called, "vg". Now, I think they give it a 1. I'm guessing graded "1", but I wouldn't be surprised if they called it a 3.5 or 4.

[D. Bergin]

I cheated so I won't say.

I will say, it's further proof that scanners have a hard time picking up creases on slabbed cards...and sometimes unslabbed cards.

I don't think it's is some way nefarious, but it does make me chuckle when people rip apart lower grades on great looking cards they see on-line, that they can't see in hand.

On the listing, I'd say it kind of looks like what it says on the slab, but if it were sent in today, instead of years ago, it would likely be a lot closer to your assessment of the grade, maybe even a 2.

T220's are pretty common and you'd probably know better then me, but I think finding high end condition examples that aren't micro-trimmed and/or rolled out, is pretty uncommon.

[G1911]

Gans was a 4. In the old days it might get a 3, but that's a serious crease. It's like rolling dice. I bought another Gans in a 4 that same night from the same seller for the exact same price that is much nicer, though I think too much corner wear to be a 4. PSA and SGC almost seem to ignore corners on T220-1. Buying on the slab often doesn't work out; a 4 can be a 1 and a 1 a 4. I find most T220 Silver's I've cracked (a fair amount of them) to be overgraded but this one seemed not so much a difference of standards and reasonable opinion as it is fairly egregious.

Good point about slabs hiding damage, here's the listing photo. You can barely make it out that there is a crease there, and it looks much less than it is in reality.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

It used to be that a tobacco card that was in nice shape with a crease was called, "vg". Now, I think they give it a 1. I'm guessing graded "1", but I wouldn't be surprised if they called it a 3.5 or 4.

When was that and how do i go back there

The guys I learned from said that nearly any card with a crease should be no better than G. The exception would be a card that was in really great condition otherwise.


The grading companies disagree, sometimes...

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by steve B

When was that and how do i go back there

Here's what they said in 1982 in The Sport Americana Football, Basketball, and Boxing Card Price Guide #2 by Beckett and Eckes...


"Very Good (VG) - A card that has been handled but not abused. Some rounding at all corners, slight layering, or scuffing at 1 or 2 corners, slight notching on edges, gloss lost from the surface but not scuffed, borders might be somewhat uneven but some white is visible on all borders, noticeable yellowing or browning of borders, pictures may be slightly out of focus."

It's interesting that they didn't use the word 'crease'. I guess "scuffing" meant creasing. I think of scuffing as paper-loss. It seems a small corner crease was okay, but not a crease across the card, which is how I remember it.

BTW they have the T220 Gans valued at $3.25 in vg/e with no premium for silver borders.

[G1911]

That's about what I consider VG. Handled but not abused, some wear and tear but nothing serious and it presents fine. A minor corner crease or wrinkle is fine, maybe even a larger crease if the card presents EX-MT otherwise. A full crease is a 2 or 2.5.

I wish these were still $3.25...