Quote:
Originally Posted by Mesquite
Is there a particular format to follow (or special forum to post to) if I want pointers on determining the grade of a card?
For example, I've got nine of the 1970 Don Sutton #622 card, and I thought it might be instructive to understand how and why the grade varies on 9 versions of an otherwise identical card, especially relative to centering and degree of softness of the corners.
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http://www.psacard.com/Services/PSAGradingStandards/
Bookmark that link for a standard grading scale including centering guidelines.
PSA is more lenient on grading centering compared to BVG/BGS (Beckett Vintage Grading/Beckett Grading Service). BCCG is another Beckett service but their scale is like doubled, and intended to stuff cards into blaster boxes at Wal-mart, not to actually grade cards (i.e. a VG 3 card can be a BCCG 6 or so)- more of a scam than a grading scale. SGC is a co-leader for pre-1950 cards with PSA. BGS is the leader for modern cards, unless you're trying to complete registry sets of Hall of Famers like Nolan Ryan. I send all my stuff to PSA because their registries are more useful.
Here are my guidelines for raw cards: reasonably centered and no corner, edge wear is NM/MT. I try to never describe vintage cards as Mint despite how good they look.
One corner ding or surface dimple and you're in the EX/NM Near Mint realm.
Excellent are cards that have no rounding or creases, but maybe some corner or edge wear.
VG/EX can have rounding of corners, but no creases. Or a light crease, but minimal otherwise age effects.
VG can have rounding of corners and a single unobtrusive crease.
Most people also will tell you if the card has been written on as marked (MK), has a stain (ST), is miscut (MC), etc. Sometimes the MK is a vintage stamp that says which collection it came from, and therefore does not detract from the value. Same with Miscuts; in the very old series like T206, there may be a higher value for a miscut card compared to a similar grading card depending on the level of miscuttedness. ;-)
Heavily creased or otherwise damaged put you in the POOR-FAIR-GOOD realms.