PSA apparently doesn't want to grade coins/pins anymore

[gunboat82]

Just chiming in to say that I'm one of the suckers who bit the bullet and recently submitted PX7 Domino Discs to PSA at $75 a pop. I don't expect them to receive exceptionally high grades, but it was important to me to protect and preserve these. I tried round coin holders with foam inserts, but found that the discs were between sizes and moved around in the holders.

My first choice would have been SGC (with Beckett a distant second), but SGC and Beckett both confirmed that they would not encapsulate these discs. So I begrudgingly went with PSA.

[steve B]

These would be a good way to go, and come in a lot of sizes in 1mm increments.
https://www.lighthouse.us/square-coi...s-quadrum.html

They also make a version that prevents corrosion on coins, but I don't know how it would affect the ink.

[scotgreb]

It seems that 4SC has a large fresh batch of graded 1971 Topps Coins. Maybe they aren't recently graded but sure looks that way to me.

I wonder what their rate is / was?

It's kind of frustrating competing against this. I'm holding a fair amount of high-grade coins but they are worthless at a $75 grading fee. No one pays mint prices for ungraded coins.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by scotgreb

It seems that 4SC has a large fresh batch of graded 1971 Topps Coins. Maybe they aren't recently graded but sure looks that way to me.

I wonder what their rate is / was?

They have some coins listed as "buy it now" for as low as $14.99. I can't imagine they paid anywhere close to $75 a coin. That obviously isn't a business model that would work for very long.

[gunboat82]

Originally Posted by gunboat82

Just chiming in to say that I'm one of the suckers who bit the bullet and recently submitted PX7 Domino Discs to PSA at $75 a pop. I don't expect them to receive exceptionally high grades, but it was important to me to protect and preserve these. I tried round coin holders with foam inserts, but found that the discs were between sizes and moved around in the holders.

My first choice would have been SGC (with Beckett a distant second), but SGC and Beckett both confirmed that they would not encapsulate these discs. So I begrudgingly went with PSA.

Just circling back on this. I received the grades today, and here are the results in case anyone is interested.

This was from the REA listing description:

The collection consists of the following: Baker (Vg), Bender (Vg-Ex), Bresnahan (Gd), Brown (Gd-Vg), Collins (Vg), Griffith (Ex), Lajoie (Gd), Marquard (Vg-Ex+), Mathewson (Vg due mostly to stray blue print on surface), McGraw (Vg), Speaker (pen mark on reverse, otherwise Vg+), Walsh (Ex), and Young (Vg)

The PSA grades were:

Baker - PSA 3 VG *Consistent w/REA*
Bender - PSA 5 EX *High end of REA*
Bresnahan - PSA 2 GD *Consistent w/REA*
Brown - PSA 2 GD *Low end of REA*
Collins - PSA 1 PR *Two grades below REA*
Griffith - PSA 4 VG-EX *Low end of REA*
Lajoie - PSA 2 GD *Consistent w/REA*
Marquard - PSA 4 VG-EX *Consistent w/REA*
Mathewson - PSA 2 GD *One grade below REA*
McGraw - PSA 2 GD *One grade below REA*
Speaker - PSA 2(MK) *At least one grade below REA*
Walsh - PSA 6 EX-MT *High end of REA*
Young - PSA 2 GD *One grade below REA*

To summarize: REA's eyeball test was reasonably close to the PSA grade for 8 of the 13 discs. REA overestimated the condition for 5 of the 13 pieces, and overshot PSA by a wide margin on the Collins and Speaker.