This is a PSA10? (Scans Included)

[Xpress04]

Please allow me to vent for a minute.

I bought a 1984 Topps Traded Ron Darling graded PSA10 on Ebay this week for $13.25/dlvd. I got it as an inside joke gag gift for a buddy of mine who I used to run tables with at shows back in the mid-eighties.

Since I don't go to shows nowadays, I've never actually in person seen a card that's been graded 10 from any authenticator. The best I have in my collection is a 2006 Bowman Chrome Yovani Gallardo Orange Refractor #'d/25 graded BGS 9.5, which really looks flawless. I also have a bunch of mid-eighties rookie cards graded SGC 96 (1987 Donruss Maddux, 1986 Topps Traded Bonds, etc.).

I was really looking forward to seeing what a true PSA 10 looked like.

Then I received this:



I'm not sure what you can see in the scan, but with the card in hand and with the naked eye, it's pretty easy to see the fraying on the top and side of the card. Here's a better example with closer scans:





The blue border on the back of the card also has some minor chipping, which I didn't scan.

Is it normal for these grading companies to be that far off in their assessments? If I can see the imperfections with the naked eye, shouldn't these guys with the proper lighting and the 10x loops be able to pick them out too?

I know that this is nothing new in the hobby, and it's probably a story that's been told a million times over already, but it's my first experience with bad grading.

I doubt I'll be giving this to my friend. It's just too embarrassing. I'm not returning it to the seller either, as he did nothing wrong. I guess I'll just eat the $13.25 and never buy a graded card again unless I see it for myself.

I just wanted to share my disappointment and see if anyone else had any similar experiences.

Thanks.

Aaron

 

[David K.]

Hi Aaron! Noticed the edges of the card....were rough. Not gem mint in my eyes. But back in those days....it was hard to find gem mint cards as many had off center issues as well as rough edges (from the cutting of the cards). Best regards, David

 

[Yankeeswin]

The 1984 Topps Traded were notorious for those kind of cuts, however, a PSA10 is a PSA10. There should be no allowances for problems with individual sets. This completely destroys the "value" of a PSA10 from that issue.

 

[abeabe]

I've seen many posts just like yours. I would stick with BGS as they seem to be more consistent with grading. In their population, the percent of 10's that that BGS has, compared to the # PSA has, is far more consitent throughout the sets. There was just a thread about the percentage of PSA 10 Rickey Henderson RCs vs PSA 10s of common cards in the 1980 set. There are some commons with 25x as many 10s as there are Rickey RC 10s.

 

[CharlieBrown]

The consistency of PSA has been horrible for about 5 or 6 years now. A friend of mine who owns a shop in Maine bought some original Turkey Red Cabinet cards. He sent them in to be graded. One came back as a 4 I believe. I looked at it when I was up on vacation last month. My first thought was this should be a 5 at least. After I said that he showed me a scan of another one that had been graded a 4. If his is a 4 then the one he showed me is a 2 or his is a 6. I have a 53 Jackie Robinson that is a 5, but I have seen others in worse shape graded higher on ebay. When they started out, they were a good operation, but now it has become so big that it is not the meticulous service it once was. Grading ruined the coin hobby, and it is doing the same thing to cards.

 

[potvin48]

A fun experiment would be to send in the same card 10 times and see the variety of grades you get...

 

[redsoxfan1979]

I have done this before... I sent a card to PSA it came back a 9 then again for a 10.

The same goes for BGS. I sent a Stanton 08 auto in came back a 9 and once again it came back a 9.5.

No consistancy it really depends on who is grading it.

 

[opcfan]

I know most have heard this but it bears restating BUY THE CARD - NOT THE GRADE!

 

[RyanL24]

I have done this before... I sent a card to PSA it came back a 9 then again for a 10.

The same goes for BGS. I sent a Stanton 08 auto in came back a 9 and once again it came back a 9.5.

No consistancy it really depends on who is grading it.

Sadly, I think the most important factor is not who is grading it, but who is getting it graded. In other words, if you sent that same card in you would probably get an 8. It was probably sent in by somebody who grades thousands of cards, like 4sharpcorners. It's hard to find an obscure card like this that wasn't submitted by somebody like that. When somebody is paying your bills by sending you thousands of cards to get graded, you take care of that person. Even if it means "rounding up" from 8 to 10. I have these Jason Jennings cards in BGS slabs. They are all sequentially numbered, I got them from the same seller. The cards are all in different condition, but the grades are all the same.


I'm talking about the first 6 cards, BGS 9.5 w/ 10 auto. I tried a couple times to get good pictures to document the various conditions, but alas, it was too difficult.

There was just a thread about the percentage of PSA 10 Rickey Henderson RCs vs PSA 10s of common cards in the 1980 set. There are some commons with 25x as many 10s as there are Rickey RC 10s.

That could be because it's the best card in the set, so lots of people opened their 1980 sets, took out the Rickey, and left the rest. As the Rickeys circulate they become less minty, but the rest of the set is still sitting in that box they came in. Just a theory...

I know most have heard this but it bears restating BUY THE CARD - NOT THE GRADE!

That works when you're buying a card in person. It's much more difficult to tell when buying online. It's a problem that arose around the time that trading cards on the internet became popular. Luckily they came up with a reasonable solution. It's called grading. A company gives their professional opinion, and you can rest easy knowing that your card was not trimmed or altered, and it's in X condition. In this case, he bought a 10 and expected a mint condition card. That's really not too much to ask.



Grading is a sham. If you don't think so, look at the way you can pay BGS $20 for a sub bump. If you give them $20, they'll change their previous opinion on the condition of your card. SHAM.


To the OP, I would still give your friend the card. It's in nice condition and is a nice gesture. Surely you will not find a mintier raw one. And the PSA 10 slab is a very nice holder, and will keep the card in the nice condition it's in. JMO.