Low Grade With High Eye Appeal

[GasHouseGang]

I've been so amazed at the quality of the cards you can buy in "lower" grade (below a 6). Show some of you're best "low grade" pick ups. I'll start off with this one.

[Dandor]

Sometimes a hard to see surface wrinkle makes a card a great deal! This IMO is the best-looking Pete Rose cards. Something about the color combination and design really makes it pop. With vintage give me good color and centering at a discount! I am not afraid to buy 3, 4, and 5. In many ways I prefer them.

[gustomania]

Here’s a few I particularly like, I consider low grade a 3 or lower

[Seven]

A few of my favorites. First up is a 54 Red Heart Mantle, which is one of the most beautiful issues of cards in my opinion



And then there's my lone Tobacco card, my Eddie Collins with a Sweet Caporal back. Older slab, probably overpaid a slight bit, but love the card just the same. Courtesy of Yastzremski Sports, on my last visit to Cooperstown

[Volod]

My collection has only a few graded cards, mostly star cards that were difficult to find unslabbed with decent eye appeal.

[hcv123]

How about this one!

[jb67]

Some great looking lower grade cards being posted. Here are a few of mine.

[bobsbbcards]

Originally Posted by jb67

Some great looking lower grade cards being posted. Here are a few of mine.

Holy cow!

[GasHouseGang]

Here's a recent pick up off of B/S/T.

[DeanH3]

Gotta love low grade high eye appeal. Great looking cards everyone.

I have a few.

[thecomebacker]

[MattyC]

Good lord I don't know where to start with the cards above. To me this is what it is all about. My favorite topic hands down. Some contributions:

[GasHouseGang]

That 52 Mantle, wow!

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Beautiful cards here.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Good lord I don't know where to start with the cards above. To me this is what it is all about. My favorite topic hands down. Some contributions:

One word - - - Wow!!!

That is probably the most impressive post I have seen on this forum.

[e6phillips]

Some classic cards with high eye-appeal.

_________________
Always looking for 1956 salesman samples, miscuts, sheet cuts, printer's defects, panels, overprints and other errors.

[JollyElm]

Can I take this in a slightly different direction? How about when you have what seems to be a very high grade card, submit it, and then it comes back way lower??

(Allow a moment for my tears to fall...)

1969topps567PSA4.jpg

It was graded with qualifiers in play, so the O/C wasn't a factor (and the faded look is a normal feature for this variation), so how is this sharp card only a four?? There's that blue light type of machine I saw in an SGC video, so I'm assuming PSA uses the same technology. My only guess is that it showed some 'invisible' minor defect which pushed it into the VG realm. Bummer.

[rugbymarine]

I love threads like this.

[Gorditadogg]

Here are a few.

[3-2-count]

David, your 4.5 Aaron rookie stills the show in my opinion.

Stunning card…….

[GasHouseGang]

This one is in honor of Gil Hodges being elected to the HOF today.

[Zach Wheat]

1915 CJ Baker

[bammerbb]

Some gorgeous cards on this thread. Here's one of my favorites.

1958Topps485TedWilliamsF.jpg

1958Topps485TedWilliamsR.jpg

[MattyC]

Al/Gordita, hell of an eye on those Mantles, man. Good selects! Talkin' several grades higher eye appeal on those. The CJ, 49 Jackie, Orr, truly every card in this thread makes spending for high grade look kinda insane.

And thx, James. Appreciate the kind words!

[jchcollins]

Paper loss upper left corner, a small cut in the left border. But the color is fantastic and the picture is perfectly focused. I can do with this for a small fraction of what a PSA 7 would cost.




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[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by bammerbb

Some gorgeous cards on this thread. Here's one of my favorites.

Due respect, but a PSA 6 is not "low grade." Gorgeous card!

[GasHouseGang]

I always liked the 1958 and 1959 AS cards. This 1959 AS Mantle must have been down graded due to centering, but overall it's a nice card.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

I always liked the 1958 and 1959 AS cards. This 1959 AS Mantle must have been down graded due to centering, but overall it's a nice card.

Yep. SGC used to be a bit of a haven for cards with centering issues to still get a fair shake, but that ship has sailed. To sympathize, their current stance probably does reflect the market sentiment better. But your card is likely close to EX-MT quality on the surface and corners, just with horrible centering. Without qualifiers, that's what SGC will do to you now.

[Wihawk]

Here's one that arrived Saturday

[Lucas00]

Here's my 1948 red rookie. Front presents in my opinion as an 8 or 9. Back has a pen mark. Beautiful.

[MikeGarcia]

...you can put together the complete '57 Topps set for not a huge amount of money if you don't mind low numbers up in the corner ; the '57's look quite nice in old or newer PSA holders...

.. ( PS : 4.5 is my personal maximum grade for " lower end "....a "6" on a '50's Topps card is really gettin' up there , Gatsby old sport....)

..

[irv]

These

[jchcollins]

To me, low grade is 2/3 or below. Most VG to EX-MT range is midgrade. But to the original point, there can be technically "poor" cards that have fantastic eye appeal. It's a goal of mine to seek more of these out in 2022. The market bubble on vintage may have burst, but it's not like a lot of prices are returning to their former lows.

[GasHouseGang]

Several people have said low grade isn't below 6. Technically, okay I get that. But in graded cards, anything below a 6 are treated like they are low grade. Plus, I wanted to be able to include this card which I picked up cheap last year because it's "low grade".

[Neal]

PSA mislabeled this one (awaiting pitch)

robinson,j47.jpg

robinson47rev.jpg

[jchcollins]

I thought this fit. Corners are wrecked, but centered nicer than most of them.




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[jchcollins]

PSA 2 snap. There is an extremely light bend on the front and what I think are album marks on the back.






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[MattyC]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I thought this fit. Corners are wrecked, but centered nicer than most of them.




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That is rare centering for that card. Looks great.

[GasHouseGang]

I went looking for this card figuring the 1955 Bowman Aaron would still be cheap. But I was wrong. I found this lower graded example that had good focus, decent centering, and looked nice for the grade.