How did this get a 4?

[Sean1125]

Can anyone explain what qualifies this card as VG-EX?






Here is another 4 that just recently sold... Is there really this much disparity in ONE single grade?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T206-Jimmy-C...p2047675.l2557

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

No idea

[freakhappy]

That's easy...just blindfold yourself and push the "4" button and BOOM!...you have a 4. At least that's what PSA did here...

[kmac32]

They were grading the card next to a golf course and someone yelled "Fore"?

[Sean]

It is the worst 4 I have ever seen.

[bunst]

It is based on the 100 scale. Actually it looks to be undergraded...looks like a 12 or possibly 13 in my opinion.

[Leon]

flesh wound

[Taxman]

Bet the price is that of a 7.

[Sean1125]

The one through Probstein that appears MUCH better sold for $205~...

This one sold for $255... Jeeze...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1910-T206-ML...item2c66863add

[Eric72]

Statistically speaking, that "4" in the OP is an outlier, to be sure

No offense to Levi at 707. I have dealt with him several times and personally find him to be an honest and upright guy.

Best Regards,

Eric

[familytoad]

I think this card got a "4" because of the impeccable spelling.
Minny-apple-less has always been challenging.

Not many other explanations make sense to me.

(I know if I sent it in, I'd get a "2")

[Jcfowler6]

That's obvious. Because the crease was erased. Duh...

[DerekMichael]

this is a very good thread, and very telling as to the current state of things in the baseball card world

personally, i have completely lost faith in the entire grading system, and i have vowed to always "buy the card, not the number on the holder"

thank yo for posting the links, it is very, very informative, and seriously disappointing for a collector to see

derek hogue

[lharri3600]

I don't give a tinkers da@** about what anyone says, it depends on WHO sends the card in! I have a folder Called PSA round file, and whoever wants it, let me know.

[kateighty]

wow. i know they'd give me a 2 on this as well. or even better a 1.5 just to really annoy me. does PSA have interns?

[JasonD08]

PSA is like a box of chocolates....you never know what you are going to get.

[Brian Van Horn]

"How did this get a 4?"

Shot of Vermouth?

[glynparson]

I have actually sent in cards by myself and through Levi back in the late 1990s early 2000s when I worked for him. I had as many for and against head scratchers with Levi back then as I have gotten on my own over they years. This also could have been graded when standards were different. I know this shouldn't change but they did. It is an ugly 4 though no matter how you look at it. I know it's much sexier to believe in some vast conspiracy but if you think the big submitters at PSA always get every card pushed to the max your crazy. And I'm sure this was not a card Levi was pressuring anyone for special treatment on.

[sdkammeyer]

That's definitely a horrible grade for the card.

[lharri3600]

Originally Posted by glynparson

I have actually sent in cards by myself and through Levi back in the late 1990s early 2000s when I worked for him. I had as many for and against head scratchers with Levi back then as I have gotten on my own over they years. This also could have been graded when standards were different. I know this shouldn't change but they did. It is an ugly 4 though no matter how you look at it. I know it's much sexier to believe in some vast conspiracy but if you think the big submitters at PSA always get every card pushed to the max your crazy. And I'm sure this was not a card Levi was pressuring anyone for special treatment on.

I NEVER once said that anyone put pressure on anyone, and the word ALWAYS was never used, therefore, I'm sane!
Let me put it this way. At the National a few years ago I submitted what I thought was a sure 7. The TPG told me the card was a 2 and put forth their best effort to convince me the card had a "tiny" wrinkle. Well, by weeks end the card was submitted by a friend who is a "heavy hitter" and the card graded a 7. Go figure! Maybe, just maybe, this was just an anomaly?

[steve B]

While I'm ambivalent about grading I do think the major companies are generally consistent. The cards I've personally submitted are evenly balanced between undergraded, probably correct and overgraded.

And wild variations in grade are nothing new. TPG was intended as both a money making thing, and a way to hopefully eliminate the totally insane grades of many of the late 80's -early 90's dealers who had no experience other than an ability to read Beckett.

How many remember seeing T206s with corners rounded all the way into the image and 2-3 big creases being called "excellent" because it's "excellent given the age of it"? Or "Near mint" (now that the rubber band gouges have been mostly trimmed off)?

TPG has eliminated some of the blatantly wrong grades. Sure, there are mistakes, and there will always be cards that don't have clear grades like some of the wonderful looking ones that have back damage from scrapbook removal.

That's one of the great things about collecting. If someone else finds some aspect of the item unacceptable for some reason that's where the bargains are.

Steve B

[frankb22]

Favorable treatment obviously exists in the grading arena just as in
all walks of life. To think otherwise is foolish. You can't be sure that's
what happened here because incompetence also exists everywhere.

[esd10]

looks like the grade was paid for bye a collector and i thought this only happened with psa ):

[buymycards]

Looks like a 4 to me if I'm selling and a 1.5 if I am buying.

[Gradedcardman]

I'm with Larry on this !!

[Eric72]

How did this card get a 4?

Easy...the grader counted the number of corners and called it a day