Graded '71 Input Requested
 

Hi. Relatively new to the grading thing. Recently sent a bunch of cards into PSA. Happy with some results. Disagree with some... but all-in-all the grades were close to what I expected... except for 5 or 6 1971 Topps cards which were all spectacular and I thought that without question, they'd grade out at least 8. They all came back 7's. My 2 questions: I'd like to know, assuming it's the same card, 1) would you prefer a beautiful card in a PSA 7 holder or a SGC 8 holder? ...and question 2) would you prefer that card in a PSA 7 holder or a SGC 7.5 holder? These cards are so sharp that I have little doubt they'd get a bump if I were to send to SGC. Please advise.

For post war its a toss up whether its PSA or SGC, except when it comes to 71 Topps, they just don't look as good in an SGC holder because of the black card with a black apron. Better contrast in a PSA holder, I'm also a big fan of a NM7 grade. If your looking to sell any 71T HOFers in a PSA NM7 drop me a line.

Well now, if I am buying them for my PC then it does not matter who graded them. If I got a good price for the one I bought, yeah me, and it comes out of the holder and into the binder regardless of who graded it.

If I was working on a graded set, again regardless of who graded it, If I started out with either PSA or SGC, that is how I would complete the set. Not gonna mix and match.

As for crossover grading from PSA to SGC or vice versa. I would not do it, especially with how SGC has tightened up their grading process now. In fact I would not count on SGC coming out higher than PSA at this point in time. Recent postings here have provided enough empirical evidence for me to make the assumption that SGC would actually end up downgrading a crossover then going the other way.

YMMV

Cheers.

Butch

I totally agree. It seems that SGC is now grading a little harder than PSA on vintage - maybe on modern also. I would not send to SGC for a crossover grade, you may end up 1 - Spending more money 2- Risk doing a little damage to 71 due to the black borders 3 - Risk receiving a lower grade 4 - Regardless of what you think - the market still seems to prefer PSA grades on vintage.

With that said - it's totally up to you - sounds like you're going to sell them, good luck.

I agree with Phil for largely the same reasons.

It's been my experience that PSA has been tough on grading both '71 Topps baseball and football.. Having said that, I would doubt many PSA 7s would find a home in a SGC 8 holder. Very limited surface issues, ink blems, and edge chipping can be present in a great looking PSA 7. But, you won't find those in a SGC 8. Put a couple of each side by side and you can see the subtle differences.
Similar situation with '71 football except their surfaces are more consistently smooth I think.
It can be a bummer getting the NM grade when you are expecting better but, its all about the card and not the slab. Also, it's probably just me, but I don't care for the 1/2 grades. PSA is too consistently inconsistent for half grades to be meaninful.

A man might say that their resolution (1/2 point grades) is not supported by their accuracy (multiple resubs resulting in different grades).

Personally anymore, I prefer them raw. I recently acquired an EX-MT range '71 set, and all except for the Yaz are raw. Beautiful.

The grading discrepancy lies in the subjective element of full bleed borders. Corners that would be 8's or higher if white are judged more harshly with wear if you can see it easier. That's not fair, but that's grading.