PSA 1 revisted

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Posted By: Carl

Hi, I'm an infrequent poster to the board, but as a low grade collector of vintage cards, I do have a great deal of interest in this topic. I also hope it is okay to restart the thread - if not I apologize. It appears to me (and I hope you can follow me) that there is a bigger difference between the most beat up PSA 1 and the least beat up PSA 1 then there is between the best looking PSA 1 card and a typical psa 4 or even 5 - for example, I bought the following card a few months ago for a very fair price (hopefully the link will work)


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A pin hole dropped it to a one. I have also seen nicer looking PSA 1's then this.

I think in this case, having the card graded actually lowered the potential selling price - I have bought worse looking raw t206's for more money.

In terms of what will hold their value better, if you look at percentages, low grade cards appear to be a safer bet. The fair T206 Mordecai Brown card I bought for 25 bucks might lose half it's value (thought I doubt it), but I would lose only 12.50....if it had cost me 300 bucks, I might be out a whole lot more.
I live in the Northeast, and though it may not be a good analogy to compare housing and real estate, the mid and low price houses are still selling well, while the homes over 600,00 dollars are sitting on the market longer. I'll always have 50 bucks to throw at a card here and there....will people always be willing to toss out a thousand bucks or more for a high grade common? Take it easy on me, this is my first post of any size.

Carl