Grading Help: 1954 Bowman Ted Williams
 

Hi everyone, this is my first post on the forum (hopefully many more to come). I recently acquired this 54 Bowman Williams which I think has great eye appeal with the sharp corners and nice centering, however, there is some ink on the surface which seems to be a common print defect on these cards. Also, there is some slight creasing noticeable on the back of the card and on the bottom left corner there are some imperfections. Looking around the psacard site there appears to be higher graded cards with the same black ink specks so I'm not sure if that alone would bring down the grade. What would you suggest? Cracking and sending to PSA/SGC again to potentially get it graded higher, sending straight to PSA for a cross, or simply leaving it as is and enjoying the nice eye appeal as it likely won't be graded higher.

Thanks for the help!

Personally, I would keep it as is...I mean, if it's for your PC (personal collection). The creasing should undoubtedly keep it in the 3 (with a chance at 4?) neighborhood no matter who you submit it to. Of course, if you are planning on selling it, then definitely see if the cost of sending it to PSA would be worth it for you. PSA slabs basically always sell for more than the competition.

Whatever you decide, good luck! And welcome to the site.

With the wrinkles it is unlikely to grade better than a 3. So what you’re left with is a famous card that with great eye appeal including better than average centering for this issue that so often comes poorly centered. If you like the new SGC slab you could send it to get outfitted in one of those. If your goal is to resell it I think your most successful $ outcome would be to sell as is. With a reslab/regrade the cost is likely to be higher than the risk/reward IMO.

Great card in any event!

Yes, this is for my PC. Going for the Williams basic set, so I don't have any plans of selling in the near term. Thanks for the advice!

If its for PC, I'd keep as is. The card looks really nice. I have a PSA 2 which I bought maybe 8 years ago and I think the SGC slabs looks so much nicer.