A grading cards question

[camaro69]

Good day to everyone. I have been thinking a lot about this issue and in all likely hood I have been over thinking it.
So my question is this. So you take a Don Mattingly rookie to a card show that he will be doing signing at.
Then you decide to have the autograph certified by PSA.Just so there will never be any doubt about it authenticity.
My question is,how is PSA giving that card anything more then an AUTHENTIC or ALTERED grade.Maybe on the out side chance
an MK qualifier. If I send any card in for grading and I did not notice that someone put a pen mark on the card
somewhere.Then if PSA notices it,then that card will definitely get the the MK qualifier.But yet someone can scribble
their entire name on the card and nothing is considered wrong with that. I see that a big thing right now seems to be
trying to get a PSA 10 card and a PSA 10 auto on that card.In my humble opinion there should be no cards that
have been signed after it left the factory should ever get a PSA 10 on the card. Certainly a PSA 10 auto is still
there for the taking.It seems to me that the card has been altered, or at the very less marked. PLMK what you think.
Am I over thinking all this. Or is there a point here.Thanks.

[Smarti5051]

I see it a bit differently. First, consider a card that is mint off the printing press at Topps, delivered to a ballplayer and signed by the player, then inserted in a pack of cards, pulled and submitted for grading. I presume you would have no issue with that card being deemed a "10" by the TPG with no "MK" note, because it is in mint condition as issued by Topps.

I think when a player signs a card, it changes the nature of the card from simply a card company issued card to an autographed card. Basically, a different category. Nobody treats two identically graded cards (say PSA 8s) where one is signed and the other is not as the same card. So, IMHO, once a card is signed and authenticated to be the signature of the player, the card is effectively transformed into a new card type (autographed card), and the autograph is considered part of the card (as if it was effectively issued that way), so the TPG's job is to assess the overall condition of the autographed cards according to the same standards it would treat any card containing an autograph.

[swarmee]

OP, you're overthinking it.

[jchcollins]

Autographs have always been an exception to the rule. Yes, technically a signature is a pen mark and any other pen mark of course should get an “MK’ designation or be downgraded accordingly. But they make the rules, and their (any grading company) rules generally don’t consider an autograph as defacing the card. Yeah yeah, even though we were all told at shows back in the 80’s and early 90’s not to get nice cards signed because it would lower the value. Whoops.


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[MichiganMan24]

The grading system is meant to be as objective a system as possible.

Most cards are all judged on the same basis, but when you bring

in other features like signatures, jersey cards, misprints, etc., then those are

going to be judged according to slightly different metrics. A card might be a

perfect PSA 10 but then a sloppy signature makes it only a PSA Auto 9. That's

because as soon as the autograph comes into play, it is now a different piece

of memorabilia and has different benchmarks to pass. I'd still opt for the grade

but not if I was really worried about the autograph on a specific card. Very

interesting idea though, thanks for sharing!