Get Grading While The Grading Is Gotten

As far as respectable grading companies go GMA (Grading & Authenticating) is an absolute dumpster fire but I guess you get what you pay for when you pay only $3 per card. I have made jokes before saying that GMA labels come pre-printed with Gem Mt 10. Imagine my surprise when I found a custom card graded by GMA, to add to the surprise, it isn’t a Gem Mt 10 but a MN-MT+ 8.5.

But, if you want a custom LeBron James 1989 Upper Deck design and you are willing to pay $12.99 then I have the auction for you.

To Grade Or Not To Grade?

I am not big on having modern day cards graded, I just don’t think it is logical unless the card is very limited and it is a top tier player. I am just surprised at some of the cards people get graded. When you consider the cost to have a card graded it just boggles the mind. Beckett runs $11 per card with a 45-day turn around if you get 1-12 cards graded. Even if you were to have 100 or more cards graded you are still paying $8 per card with a 45-day turn around. PSA is $17 per card with a 10-day turnaround if you get 1-9 cards graded. If you go with their bulk service, 100 cards (or more) still run $7 per card with a 45-day turn around.

 

Last October I bought a graded BGS 8 2013 Leaf Rookie Retro Yasiel Puig for $6.64. If the seller was the one who had the card graded he lost money on the sale. It is situations like this where I am just awestruck at what people have graded. Now I am guessing that whoever had the card graded was hoping to make money on Puig’s quick fame but still, this is the reason I won’t consider grading a modern card without a damn good reason.

 

Now I am in the position where I am wondering if I should get a modern day card graded. Last year I pulled a 2010-11 Upper Deck Tyler Seguin Young Guns out of a discounted blaster. I know he has a solid future ahead of him but I put it in to a binder and paid no attention to it until I was adding my hockey cards to my Zistle account. At 22-years old he has been in the league for four season, he is currently with the Dallas Stars. This past season he ranked #5 in the league in goals and #4 in the league in total points.

 

Graded versions of his Young Guns can run $90 or more depending on the grade. Would it be logical to get his card graded if I planned to sell it?

Poor Griffey, You Look So Folded

 

Every so often you come across a collector who has a sense of humor, I found one yesterday while searching for Ken Griffey Jr. cards.

 

It seems like sellers look for ways to make the “1/1” claim. I think I came across the best 1/1 card, as long as you like to have a laugh. The seller, who is a regular seller, posted a seriously damaged 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. that was graded as a BGS Poor 1. The card is truly one of a kind, the population for a Poor 1 Grade? One card, this card, significantly less than all of the BGS Gm Mt 10 cards that are available.

 

I sent the seller an email and he let me know that he did this for a couple of reasons, one was he is countering the people who use the “eBay 1/1” term loosely, making fun of the claim if you will. Additionally, as a Griffey collector he can truly say he has one of the more rare graded Griffey card. He never intended to sell the card and at an opening bid of $26,000 I think he has definitely drawn the attention to his card that he was looking to gain.

Unleash The Kraken!

After considering what to do with my BGS graded 2013 Leaf Rookie Retro Yasiel Puig card I finally came to a decision, it was time to release the card from its encased prison. I watched a couple of videos on how to crack open a BGS case and went to work. It took me just a minute or two and as long as you are careful it is actually pretty quick and painless.

 

First was cutting the top corners with a pair of pliers, slide a flathead screwdriver into the opening and pry up. The top and sides should give way pretty easily and doing it this way lessens the chance of damaging the card.

 

I popped the card from the case and then using scissors I cut the top of the sealed sleeve that was around the card and slid it out and waalaa the card is now out of the case and on its way to my baseball binder.

 

A Grading Question

This has been a head scratcher to me for years. How can a punched out card with perforated edges come back graded as a Gem Mt 10? Isn’t the definition for a grade of 10 to have perfect crisp edges? I realize that this card has a 9.5 Edge subgrade but still, is that a realistic grade?

 

I remember when people started getting the 1996 SI Kids Tiger Woods cards graded it seemed like half of the hobby was flipping out because they felt that perforations are damage to the edge of the cards while the other half of the hobby were pointing out that punched cards need to be graded on a different scale because the cards are only available as sheets and to be removed they were going to have the perforations on the side and that the card edges should be graded without considering the perforations. Some people are even arguing that if perforations are fine than why are trimmed cards or cards cut from an uncut sheet (like the T206 Honus Wagner card) graded lower or even refused to be graded?

 

Personally I lean towards the “How can a perforated card be a 10?” side, it isn’t that I have a problem having them graded but they should be graded using different standards. We are talking apples and oranges here, why should a card pulled from a pack require a razor sharp edge for a 10 grade while a card ripped from a magazine can grade a 10 with perforations on all 4 sides?

 

I am just wondering because I came across a couple of punched cards graded pretty high with this Tiger leading the charge with a $35k BIN price tag.

 

A question I would like to toss out there:

If I were to purchase a raw Tiger Woods SI Kids card, trimmed the perforations and submitted it for grading should it be considered an altered card and rejected or should it be graded as pack fresh?

 

 

Agree? Disagree? Input? Where do you stand on punched cards getting a Gem Mt 10 grade?