Who wants to play "card grader"?

[xdrx]

I have a few cards to sell that are in great condition to my untrained eye. I don't think they are worth getting graded, as they are not anything close to big ticket items, but I know the value still jumps nicely if they are viewed as being toward the upper end of the scale.

Curious if anyone cares to lend an opinion on these two cards, which are representative of what I have. On stuff I've gotten graded I'm usually overestimating by a grade or so, so I don't trust myself at all. Backs on these are pretty much perfect.

Thanks!

[Cardboard Junkie]

I'll guess 4 or 5.....dave.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Morgan looks like a 6 to me (maybe a 6.5). The bottom right corner will get you on the Pignatano, so I'll say a 5 on that one (maybe a 5.5)

[39special]

I'd say 5 for Morgan 4 for Pignatano

[Bocabirdman]

How does the cost of getting a lower valued card compare to the value added by the slab? I am not a big slab collector, nor have I ever sent anything to be slabbed. I think I have 6 or 8 slabs in my collection that just sorta found their way in there, including 2 T206 slabs I got today at a local show. I have liberated a couple slabbed cards in my time. A $1 EX 1967 Ken Boyer off-brand slab, that I picked up over at C.O.M.C., comes to mind.

[Bocabirdman]

Sorry, I do not/did not mean to hi-jack this thread.

[xdrx]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Morgan looks like a 6 to me (maybe a 6.5). The bottom right corner will get you on the Pignatano, so I'll say a 5 on that one (maybe a 5.5)

Sorry; the lower right corner of the Pignatano is misrepresented in my scan. That is a little fiber on the holder making it look like damage. No issue on the card itself.

I'm still confused by the gradings. PSA standard is:

10: Gem Mint. The sports card is as perfect as possible. Corners are sharp, color is glossy, and the card is free of any staining. The image is centered.
9: Mint. Only very minor flaws. Slightly off-center, slight printing imperfection, but otherwise an excellent sports card.
8: Near Mint-Mint. Excellent sports card, slight fraying might be present. Slightly off-white borders.
7: Near Mint. Close inspection reveals slight surface wear or slightly frayed corners. Mostly glossy picture, slight printing errors.
6: Excellent-Mint. May have a printing defect or visible surface wear, but there is no loss of overall appeal.

The Morgan looks like a very solid 7 to me. The Pignatano maybe a 9.

I'm not trying to argue about grades; just trying to understand what I am missing. If you are selling these cards how do you best represent them? My thought is to provide high quality scans and let the images speak for themselves, but I'm not sure that is enough.

Thanks for the input.

[UOFLfan7]

For the Morgan I would guess a PSA 6.5 or 7.

Pignatano looks like a solid 8 to me.

[alanu]

I'd say 4 and 7 respectively.

I've found that a 20X jewelers loupe (cost less than $10) is a good way to check the corners, many times what I think are nice corners don't look nearly as good under magnification. It's a good way to check for light creases too.

[xdrx]

Originally Posted by alanu

I'd say 4 and 7 respectively.

I've found that a 20X jewelers loupe (cost less than $10) is a good way to check the corners, many times what I think are nice corners don't look nearly as good under magnification. It's a good way to check for light creases too.

I guess my disconnect is "slightly frayed corners" of a 7 vs "slightly rounded corners" of a 4.

I just remembered the 52 Mantle comparison that is available: link. Compared to that card graded 7 I'd say the 68 Morgan is better (from a corners perspective), as the Mantle has a clear ding on upper right corner. Certainly not close to a 4, which has clearly rounded corners.

Please try to explain to me where the Morgan fails to meet the standard for a 7.

[steve B]

The corners just aren't quite nice enough for a 7. Another thing that hurts it is the darker borders, while it should be purely technical the dark borders make the slight wear stand out.
And PSA is tough on centering which isn't all that good on the Morgan.

I don't think I'd bother grading the Morgan. The Pignatano I'd probably give a try when a special came up.

Steve B

[scmavl]

I feel like the Pignatano's corners are too soft to get a 9. I sent in four '61 Topps hoping for mostly 9's, maybe one 8 due to centering. I got an 8, a 7, and two 6's. The corners looked easily as sharp as your '59. Rarely will vintage cards grade as high as you expect.

I did get two nice surprises in my last submission to PSA though- a '75 Yount rookie and a '75 Brooks Robinson both graded a 9! The Yount's VCP average is $450+ and Brooks is around $150. I pulled both from packs last year.

[mintacular]

Not worth the $ to get Morgan graded. 68s hide corner wear well, look at card from back corners too. If you can see with the naked eye any normal wear (like bottom right) than 7s are unlikely

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by xdrx

Sorry; the lower right corner of the Pignatano is misrepresented in my scan. That is a little fiber on the holder making it look like damage. No issue on the card itself.

Oh, ok. I thought the paper was pealed back a bit. In that case, I change my answer to an 8.

I think you would probably get more accurate guesses if you took the cards out of the penny sleeves / top loaders and scanned them against a black background.

Good luck!

[novakjr]

How am I the only one that thinks the Pignatano is probably trimmed? Just doesn't seem to be enough top border.

[xdrx]

Originally Posted by novakjr

How am I the only one that thinks the Pignatano is probably trimmed? Just doesn't seem to be enough top border.

measures a hair over 3.5 inches, if that means anything. I have no clue what the tolerances were for card sizes.

Here are two additional images. First is just rescan with card out of sleeve and with black backing. Second is with black levels cranked up to maximize the contrast between corners and background.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Much better scans, Dean. I like the bottom scan best. 8 or 8.5. Good luck!

[xdrx]

Thanks for the comments and opinions everyone. If nothing else I feel a little better about being confused...

[brightair]

Wow, so far we have given Pignatano either a 4, 5, 7, 8 or 9. No wonder people disagree about grades...
What the heck, I'll take grade 6 before anyone else does.
brightair