TPG's and 1962 Green Tints, A Sad Tale

[JollyElm]

Okay, the title of this thread is just a bit of hyperbole, but after seeing a mislabeled SGC card in the B/S/T area, I decided to search around ebay to see if I could spot any more errors by the TPG's on 1962 Topps 'green tint' variations. Well, it didn't take me long and I found a whole bunch of them, mainly in PSA holders. Before anyone asks, YES, the cards in these holders are the normal versions, not the green tints. No doubt about it.

Here is the card that started me thinking. It is an SGC mislabeling:
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PSA seems to have a particularly hard time differentiating between the 'Babe Ruth Special' cards, which is very problematic for a pair of reasons. Number one, the error versions of these cards usually sell for a decent premium, especially #139 'Babe Hits 60,' and secondly, because most of them are as simple as pie to tell from their 'normal' counterparts. For instance, 'Babe Hits 60' features blatantly lime green colored dirt and grass and the 'Greatest Sports Hero' card shows a girl with a strikingly neon green dress/skirt, not orange.

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Wally Moon, #190, is a plainly ridiculous error. His 'green tint' card is also one of the famous 'pose variations' from the set, showing the outfielder holding a bat and wearing a hat. If he's not wearing a cap, it's simply the 'normal' version, so what in heck was PSA thinking??

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Frank Baumann, #161, is one of the toughest GT's to recognize, because both versions of the card have pretty decent clarity of image (unlike almost all of the other 'green tints'), so it's hard to be tough on PSA regarding this one. However, and that's a big however, they're supposed to be experts in the field, so they should be fully aware of the cropping differences in the two versions of this card.

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Perhaps I should contact the grading companies and forward them the 'Official Green Tints Guide' I put together.

[ALR-bishop]

This is a good example of why I will not pay someone who knows less about my cards than I do for an opinion about my cards. I think you should offer them your guide . Someone else posted a pretty good picture comparison of both versions of all them in the other thread

[glynparson]

Is not done by the graders, most data entry at psa are not card experts.

[4reals]

Love your insight on the topic Darren, thank you!

[ALR-bishop]

Glyn---If they have one guy who looks at the card and says it is an 8 but offers no opinion on how to otherwise classify the card, and a second guy who knows nothing about cards classifying it, that makes me even happier that I never got into graded cards.

But, to me it is and always has been a hobby. If I were in cards as a business or an investor, I guess I would be stuck with them.

[brob28]

Darren, not too much to add here except that I have found quite a few miss labled by TPG's on ebay as well. Very suprising/disappointing given your work has shown that there are tell-tale signs to identify these with 100% accuracy.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by glynparson

Is not done by the graders, most data entry at psa are not card experts.

Laughing out loud.

Oh, that explains it then.

[ALR-bishop]

Doug--I sure hope this does not shake your confidence in the grading companies. They probably have a lot more competence than they are letting on

[JollyElm]

Someone asked me about the tells of the Baumann card, so here it is:

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