Jaw-Dropping Grades
 

I'm pretty certain that everyone who has submitted vintage cards multiple times has had to have been disappointed by the grades their cards have received, at least on occasion. If you're like me, you've actually been disappointed more often than not.

But in this thread I am fishing for success stories - for results that were better than expected. For example, I sent a raw T206 Piedmont Ty Cobb bat-on version in to SGC nearly two years ago. It was supposedly from an estate sale, and had what I would consider moderately light corner wear, excellent centering, and vibrant blue ink on back. I really expected a 3 or 4 at best, and of course was afraid of receiving the worst news, like having the card come back graded "authentic" only due to evidence of some kind of alteration. Imagine my shock when it received an SGC 60!

So I'm looking for stories like that one - awesome raw grades or better than expected crossover grades. Would anybody like to chime in?

I once submitted a common from a bulk lot of 1968's I won from an auction house many years ago. It got a PSA 10 and sold for big money.

I picked up a Butterfinger Lou Gehrig a while back that I submitted. It came back as a 6. What's cool is that was the highest graded version of that card. My first ever Pop 1.
Sold it for a tidy profit.

Not pre-war, but I recently submitted my Walton Payton RC that I opened from a pack at age 10 in 1976. I still remember I had all the teams separated and rubber banded. I took good care of the cards though. It does have a bit of a rubber band impression on one side of the card if you look very closely. Centering is awesome. I thought it was a solid 6 and fully expected that grade. It came back an 8!!!! I couldn't believe it and counted my lucky stars.

Not pre war, but 2 that come to mind are a Doctor J rookie that I had slated as a 7.5 or 8. It had nice edges, corners, and front centering, but had a yellow print mark in addition to the normal fish eye, and horrible back centering. It came back a 9. Another was an 86 Jordan sticker. I thought I had cleaned all the wax off of it, but missed a small amount on the first sub and it came back 8 ST. I cracked it out, recleaned it, resubbed, and got a straight 9.

I'm also frequently surprised by the grades I get on 56 Topps. I have no idea why, but it seems like they're much more forgiving on that year vs 57-59.

I had a 33 WWG Ruth that SGC rejected as altered...PSA graded it 4.

Back in the Sixties when I was in my teens I would buy T206s and thought the backs were interesting but...One was a Red Hindu Duffy that I consigned to an AH in 2014, who had it graded. Came back SGC 55 - highest graded either SGC or PSA.

Bought a very nice 1959 Topps - Hank Aaron/Ed Matthews - #212 - Fence Busters. Was a grey back and ended up as a BVG 8 which was a POP 1, highest graded in that card as a grey back. Only 8 BVG 8's, 1 BVG 8.5 and 1 BVG 9 as white backs.

I once submitted a few '13 Lajoie game cards that I'd picked up. Granted, they have round corners and are pretty inexpensive, but they are still 100 years old. I was shocked when I saw my grades online to see a couple of 9's and a 10.
Looked at it really close when it came back and honestly couldn't tell a difference between the 10 and the 9's.

I picked up a small card collection about 3.5 years ago from a craigs list ad. Decided I would try and do some selling on Ebay. While most of the cards were mid-grade it did have a very nice looking 1970 Roberto Clemente. I ended up selling it on Ebay for 99.00 and it was one of my first sales so I was pretty pumped. Then I get the dreaded return notice on the card. The buyer said it was trimmed so I let it go at that.

Fast forward a few months later and I decided to submit it for grading. I was pretty sure it would come back as evidence of trimming and much to my surprise it came back a PSA 9!!! Never so happy to have a return on Ebay after I got those results. The reason I submitted was I compared to other 70's cards I had and it was same size and everything look good to my novice eyes.

Busted a T206 Cobb out of a BVG 2.5 holder and submitted to SGC hoping for a bump to SGC 40. It came back graded SGC 50. That's pretty much my best grading story

Several years ago I busted out a BVG 4.5 1956 Mantle and sent it to PSA. It came back a PSA 7.
James

Did you let the original buyer know what he missed out on?

I bought a group of T206 rare cards in raw condition. I didn't pay too much, and I sent them to PSA. I expected to get grades of 1, but the Demmitt came back a 3.5. I have no idea why it got that grade:

Attachment 265148

I got back this year; a 1981 Montana in a 9 and a 1909 Caramel #22 {Wagner} Questionable Authenticity. Both unexpected results to say the least.

Nice surprise.......
 

Cracked out a SGC 88(8) and sent to PSA......returned a PSA 9 (none higher). Very pleased............

I bought a raw 1969 Phil Esposito on eBay. Looked great so I sent it in. Got a 9. I am always surprised when any cards that are pre 1980 come back with 9 or 10 grades. Doesn't happen often with my subs. One time I sent in a pair of Shindana Games cards of Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali. The Ali got a 9 and the Louis got a 10. Boy do I wish those two grades had been reversed!

When I was buying T cards I used to shoot for presentable vg cards. I sent in most of my hofers and got quite a few 5s out of it, which was a nice surprise.

I about 80% of the 1964 Topps Stand Ups from a collector. Every so often I send them off to BVG to get graded. Most of them come back as 6 or 7's. But the Mantle came back as a nice surprise!!!

http://media.fotki.com/1_p,rtdwqsbfb.../Scan19-vi.jpg

I bought a raw 1969 Topps Johnny Bench All-Star Rookie at an antique store for $30. I thought it would grade a 6 and I could make about $20 on it. It came back an 8 for a nice surprise.