PSA 10's - most are overrated

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Posted By: leon

I am going to start collecting e221 and e222 only in PSA 10...... Also, I am going to go ahead and try to complete my Four Base Hits set in PSA 10 too.... If anyone has any leads on some of these please let me know. I am anxious to complete these 3 sets....asap....

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Posted By: JimCrandell

First of all, of course the gem mint grade is not arbitrary.

There are a large number of submitters who go through modern cards very carefully trying to pick out the 10s from the 9s--many of them with great success.

Nobody is saying PSA is perfect but without question the average 10 is a grade up from the average 9 just like 8s are a grade up from the 7s.

Look at the 10s--they appear to be perfect--the 9s are hit and miss.

Are the 10s worth 5-10X a 9--most of the time no but if it is a pop 1 psa 10 in a vintage set any day of the week.

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Posted By: Jim Dale

If PSA 10's are "common" and its something I want to collect then I'll get the PSA 10's over the 9's and 8's. For example my Ozzie Smith collection is nothing but PSA 10's. Some are only $5 where as the rookie is nearly $2k. In 1975 mini's the 10's are 200/500 depending on who so I go for 8's and 9's because its a 660 card set and a set of 10's isn't practical to my budget. In vintage I hardly even imagined getting a PSA 10. What are there - someone said - 13 PSA 10 T206 cards? I'm glad to have part ownership of a 9 and an SGC 96. Those are fine by me.

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Posted By: Paul

Leon, I know it's your forum. But your post really should be in the buy/sell section. You are getting an unfair advantage in your quest for PSA10 Four Base Hit cards by posting in this thread.

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Posted By: Eric Brehm

I agree with Jim C. that Gem Mint is a legitimate grade. It may well serve PSA's marketing purposes to use it, but it is a term collectors have used over the years to communicate with each other about the condition of cards. Yes Mint means 'no defects', and in theory a card either has defects or it doesn't, but in practice it isn't quite that clear-cut, because of the subjectivity inherent in each person's evaluation of defects. (And again, there is no such thing as a 'perfect' card.) Mint means essentially problem free; there is nothing negative worth noting. Gem Mint means "absolutely, no doubt about it, you'd have to be crazy not to think this one is Mint."

I remember buying a 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle card from Barry Sloate back in the mid-1980's, back in the days when purchases usually had to be done sight unseen, based on descriptions written in ads or given over the telephone. I asked him on the phone if the card was Mint, and he said something like, "absolutely, in fact about the only way I can describe this one is to say that it is Gem Mint." (emphasis on the word 'Gem') That let me know that this was really an exceptional card, and if I didn't like this one, I probably wouldn't be happy with any example. Sure enough it was one of the nicest cards I ever had. Set me back $100 too, as I remember.

Now the grading companies have tried to give 'precise' definitions of the attributes of a Gem Mint card (e.g. tighter centering requirements than a merely Mint card and so on), just as they have done for the other grades. Precise definitions of inherently subjective qualities are never entirely satisfactory, of course, but I think the general criteria they have laid out cover the grade range reasonably well. (Except, as I said before, I think that their centering standards are a bit too lax, for all grades.)

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Posted By: barrysloate

Eric- did it grade?

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Posted By: Eric Brehm

Barry -- unfortunately I sold the 1956 Topps Mantle card a long time ago, as part of a high grade complete set that I put together. That was long before professional grading came along. The Mantle was definitely the centerpiece of the set. I seem to remember that I had invested about $1000 in the set during 1984-85 and was able to sell it in 1987 for about $4500. Prices were really taking off then.

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Posted By: barrysloate

You have a better memory than me. I don't remember that 56 Mantle, but I didn't forget the fabulous red Cobb you sold me. That was the best one I had ever seen.

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Posted By: steve

Can a PSA 10 have an obvious tilt cut ? Y/N

Can a PSA 10 have obvious color fade ? Y/N

Can a PSA 10 have obvious print dot(s) ? Y/N

Or is the grade more of a function of pure wear ONLY - ie. razor corners/edges ? Y/N

steve

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Posted By: Eric Brehm

If by "obvious," you mean "definitely detracting from eye appeal," I would say the answer to all three questions should be "no," even for PSA 9.

There is a regular poster here (I forgot who) who has suggested having two separate grade components to rate (1) the original quality of a card (i.e. at time of manufacture, including centering and print/image quality) and (2) its degree of preservation (i.e. avoidance of wear to corners, edges, and surface due to handling). That would make some sense, in fact I think it would be particularly helpful to rate centering separately (especially since it can be objectively measured). But that would make grading more complicated of course. In any case we are stuck for now with a system that combines all defect types into a single numerical indicator.

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

Yes, PSA 10s can have multiple printers dots. Just see the PSA ad comparing final prices of a Koufax leader card PSA 10 vs. SGC 98. The SGC card is obviously much nicer yet the PSA card with multiple printers spots, commanded a bigger price.

Oh the Humanity,

Lee