Evaluate Before Slab?
 

It seems like everything has to be graded these days to achieve maximum value.

My question is what self evaluation tips can you give me to determine if the card is worth submitting?

I've really only looked closely at obvious corner/centering flaws when buying for my PC for purely OCD reasons, lol.

Do you guys examine the cards under a magnifying glass etc...?

Also what about 1/1's? Worth grading?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don't bother with a loupe but a bunch of people will recommend them.

I think the most important tool is good lighting. Being able to spot really shallow surface scratches/blemishes is much easier with proper lighting.

I grade 1/1s of guys I collect simply for uniformity.

Also, this is the most obvious one people miss--read PSA's grading standards prior to sending!

[url]https://www.psacard.com/resources/gradingstandards[/url]

1. Corners
2. Centering
3. Edges
4. Surface

I go in that order and filter cards out that way. The more expensive the card is raw, the more tolerance I have.

Some people use a loupe, I have not.

For 1/1's, its dependent on value and condition. The more flaws, the less likely it is for me to send in.

[QUOTE=Archangel1775;16695574]1. Corners
2. Centering
3. Edges
4. Surface

I go in that order and filter cards out that way. The more expensive the card is raw, the more tolerance I have.

Some people use a loupe[/QUOTE]

This, but I switch centering and corners.

If the eyeballs say that centering is off, it's almost no point in my experience. If that looks good, you got a chance.

Depends what you're grading for.

If it's for the flip, then yeah, go to town examining the card.

But if it's for preservation, then obviously a different story.

Centering is the required component - it's like an NBA player needing to be a certain caliber of athlete or else it doesn't matter how much else skill they have. To use BGS scale, if the card is an 8.5 on centering, the card is a 9 and that's that, there's no room for the more subjective measurements of edge/surface/corners.

Corners are the obvious one, but I think surface is where people make grading mistakes and sub cards that aren't going to get the grades they think they will. Pack fresh modern cards should be pretty clean on surface and are going to primarily get dinged on corners. For raw older cards the money is made on surface IMO - if they have a clean surface they'll grade as well as you expect, if they don't they won't.

So I'm not a grader but, I would look for things in this order

1) Centering. The most obvious and easy to spot
2) Surface - when card is in hand.
3) Corners - probably fine 99% of the time
4) Edges - see corners

Even a small print dot makes it an automatic 9 and a print dot + line or big print line makes it an 8. I've seen OC PSA 10s, never seen a psa 10 with a surface defect (haven't looked very hard).

Surface is either 1 or 2.

In terms of the type of cards to get graded I'd say the following:

1. Rookie cards of star players - Think of a card like Topps rookies of the best guys that have a high print run but low POP for 9 or 10.

- For example, I have 10 Dirk Topps Rookies - Sending 4 to get graded shortly that look like 9's.

Low #ed cards or even signed/game used cards don't typically increase in price much if graded. Unless it's an iconic set, or 20+ years old, or an auto'd rookie etc.

BUT if a card is say worth over $300-$500 it may make sense to grade it no matter the grade, especially if it's a rookie - For example, 2 of my best recent cards are a Steph Curry 09-10 Draft Edition Auto RC and Kawhi Leonard 12-13 Contenders Auto RC. I plan to grade both even though the Kawhi might get a 8 or 9, and the Curry maybe a 7 (red scratch surface issue on back) ... My thinking is if I was to sell them down the line, selling them raw almost insinuates there's something wrong with them. Plus, grading the Curry card for example makes it safer to sell as opposed to selling a damaged card even with disclosing the issue and then the buyer saying "it is in worse shape than I thought" ...

I've submitted 5 cards with the naked eye, all BGS. I've gotten a BGS 10, 9.5, and 3 9s. All cards were 2003 or older.

I just get under good lighting, inspect centering, corners, edges, surface.

Appreciate all of the great feedback, thank you BO!

Ive always been a big proponent of having my cards slabbed, for aesthetic and saftey reasons. I used to just put in the submissions at the bigger shows at the PSA/BGS booths. Who knows when I'll see one of those again.

The most important thing to find out is who is the grader. The grader makes all the difference in the world. You could get a Sekou card that you may think looks like a PSA 4 based on centering and it comes back a PSA 10. So, the grader is more important than corners, edges, surface, or centering.........

[QUOTE=DajuanWagner;16697519]The most important thing to find out is who is the grader. The grader makes all the difference in the world. You could get a Sekou card that you may think looks like a PSA 4 based on centering and it comes back a PSA 10. So, the grader is more important than corners, edges, surface, or centering.........[/QUOTE]

Well said, ty.

Loupes? Magnifying glasses? Lol. No.