Buy the card and not the grade movement

[discodanman45]

There is a big movement among vintage collectors right now to ignore the grade on the label and buy the card inside the slab. I think it is generally a positive thing, but people need to be careful of this. As someone who grades vintage cards, the cards inside the holder don't look the same as the card when it is raw. Slabs can sometimes mask very serious issues like bends and if you buy cards online, creases can be very difficult to see and the color can be less vibrant.

I think this is a very good strategy for truly scarce or expensive cards. If I am looking for a 1933 Goudey Ruth, eye-appeal is everything. If you are buying a common card like a 1971 Topps Hank Aaron, I would suggest going for a better condition cards instead of overpaying for a beautiful looking PSA/SGC 2 to 3. I would personal just be patient for a really nice 5/6 for that card.

Right now it is seeming that a lot of people are just looking at the 2 to 4 grades to try to find a high eye-appeal card for cheap. The problem is that a lot of other people are doing the same and driving the prices of these cards 2/3 times over comps. I am personally just collecting oddball stuff right now like 50's and older Wheaties and just buying up raw cards. My graded collection will be a lot smaller in 2025. Trying to move into much rarer cards for graded and more player runs in top-loaders for the 50's to 80's.

[towerymt]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

If you are buying a common card like a 1971 Topps Hank Aaron, I would suggest going for a better condition cards instead of overpaying for a beautiful looking PSA/SGC 2 to 3. I would personal just be patient for a really nice 5/6 for that card.

Agree...I stick to 50s and older when I overpay for sharp low grade slabbed cards.

I recently let a couple go that I would have liked to own...but $385 for a '54 Jackie 1.5 with two slits in the edge seemed awfully strong. I did wonder if people bidding on it knew the two horizontal lines on the surface were cuts in the card. Another was a GMC-auctioned '54 Aaron with a tear in the top edge that could barely be seen in the images. Sold for PSA-2 money, raw, as a max PSA-1 grade.

[vintg]

Originally Posted by towerymt

Agree...I stick to 50s and older when I overpay for sharp low grade slabbed cards.

I recently let a couple go that I would have liked to own...but $385 for a '54 Jackie 1.5 with two slits in the edge seemed awfully strong. I did wonder if people bidding on it knew the two horizontal lines on the surface were cuts in the card. Another was a GMC-auctioned '54 Aaron with a tear in the top edge that could barely be seen in the images. Sold for PSA-2 money, raw, as a max PSA-1 grade.

check out the '54 robinson sgc 1.5 i bought on 10-14 for $300

i love it. (sorry, still inept at posting pictures)

hope all is well with you and discodan i enjoy reading your posts. thanks

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by vintg

check out the '54 robinson sgc 1.5 i bought on 10-14 for $300

i love it. (sorry, still inept at posting pictures)

hope all is well with you and discodan i enjoy reading your posts. thanks

What do you use for posting pictures? The easiest thing to do is set up a Flickr account and link from there. If you still have issues, let me know.

The 50's stars in low grades is basically what any of us can afford at this point. That Jackie in a 2/3 is all I would want and yes I would buy a 1 with a pinhole if it looked nice. The semi-stars are getting real weird right now. Raw versions are going to collectors for good money and are drying up. It is a competition of people grading and set collectors wanting the same cards. If I was buying an 50's to 60's Frank Robinson, I would absolutely be looking at graded cards right now.

[vintg]

sorry, tried to post pic, didn't work

[vintg]

there we go, with an assist from my daughter, lol

no creases, wrinkles, or paper loss

[rats60]

If you avoid cards that were graded in the 90s and early 2000s, they start with 9, 0 and 1, and buy cards that are newly graded and often under graded, you can find nice lower graded cards. However, you need to expect to pay at the high end of the price range.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by vintg

Attachment 559245

there we go, with an assist from my daughter, lol

no creases, wrinkles, or paper loss

Kids are useful as we get older.

Beautiful card. Are you going to contact SGC for the label coming out? They should fix that for free, it shouldn't happen.

[vintg]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

Kids are useful as we get older.

Beautiful card. Are you going to contact SGC for the label coming out? They should fix that for free, it shouldn't happen.

i may, but i probably will crack it out and hope for a 2, 2.5, or 3

it's got a very slight "scuff/erasure/very, very slight stain?" starts right below the D in dodgers (upper right corner) and goes about 2/3 down to robinson in the throwing motion

[towerymt]

It's too nice for a '1', so I'd say there's near zero chance of the grade going down. And probably a decent chance at a half grade bump.

I once cracked out an SGC 2.5 to send to PSA, but PSA rejected it as 'ALTERED STOCK' (N5), so I sent it back to SGC and they gave it a 3.

I'd rather take a free re-holder if SGC offers that option for displaced labels.

[kingchromium24]

I think there is something else people are missing with the low grade to mid grade cards. Decent looking “buy the card, not the grade” cards are going much higher because for most of the average and more modern collector that is all they can afford. The sea seems to be much larger with those buyers than die hard vintage collectors and it is driving up prices

Mantle stuff is a great example…PSA 1s through 5s have really risen dramatically and the bid activity is much more aggressive then in past years for similar copies.


I am investing in PSA 7 and higher 70s and early 80s stuff because I think those will follow the same trajectory the 50s and 60s stuff has done….Nolan Ryan, bench, Gretzky, Walter Payton, Schmidt, Brett, etc

[discodanman45]

The grading impact on raw cards, especially 1965 and older, is getting to be very apparent. With people doing graded HOF runs, the raw card market is drying up for certain cards and prices on raw cards in poor condition are hitting insane prices. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2025. I think a vintage boom is on the way... BTW, I don't want it to happen.

[Jeter1020]

I wanted a psa 8.5 1993 Derek Jeter. The ones I saw were selling for about 800-1k. They all had a print line or some minor imperfection. I ended up getting one in a psa 8 below. Probably the cleanest 8 I’ve ever seen and cleaner than all of the 8.5s I was looking at. This was significantly cheaper and was definitely buying the card not the grade


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[tconte]

Nice SP Jeter pickup! Clean 8's are great. Congrats!

[Poorboy]

As a newbie I may be wrong
But certain modern cards I feel are mis graded
So if I can pick up one I want in a 7-9 bgs or psa on the cheap?
I’m in
Seen way too much variance in card grading recently to pay for that true 10

[vintg]

my first satchel paige, pretty decent for a 1

[Jeter1020]

Originally Posted by tconte

Nice SP Jeter pickup! Clean 8's are great. Congrats!

Thank you! Better than any of the 8.5s I was looking at




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[Above the Rim]

The Paige looks nice.

[vintg]

Originally Posted by Above the Rim

The Paige looks nice.

appreciate that. thanks.

i've spent the last year trying to buy what i call "head-turner" cards.

of course, they can't ALL be like that, but i try to think about that when purchasing/trading.

like at the chicago sports spectacular when i got the '52 bowman mantle and the '54 bowman ted williams.

and back to the thread's topic, i also try to buy cards i think i can crack out and get a higher grade.

[jchcollins]

It's getting to where if I really want a card, and know it's within my price range - the number on the slab for mid- to lower grade isn't really even the first consideration anymore. We've all seen 3's and 3.5's on vintage that look better in some cases than 4's and maybe even some 5's. And this is not a new phenomenon.

Grading with vintage has become suspect again enough across the board to where it makes sense to me to shoot for the eye appeal and card attributes that you want first, over and above a number on a slab. (If I could afford to buy all my vintage in PSA 7's, we wouldn't be having this conversation). Agreed that instances of people "paying up" and driving up prices for the card over the grade can at times become a problem, but hopefully it's tempered if nothing else lately in the current cool market.

[towerymt]

Has anyone run across a 2.5 that looks amazing? I think every single one has been awful. As in, no question why it's low grade.

1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, etc = can look multiple grades better than the technical grade.

I'm thinking about dropping 2.5 from my searches.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by towerymt

Has anyone run across a 2.5 that looks amazing?

Yep.

About five years ago, I had a ‘49 Leaf Ted Williams in a PSA 2.5. Color was pack fresh, and the focus was dead on. It had some wrinkles, but nothing broke the surface. Corners had wear, but weren’t absolutely destroyed. From an arm’s length it looked like about a 5 if you didn’t hold the wrinkles in direct light.

I thought it was one hell of a 2.5.


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[Gary]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Yep.

About five years ago, I had a ‘49 Leaf Ted Williams in a PSA 2.5. Color was pack fresh, and the focus was dead on. It had some wrinkles, but nothing broke the surface. Corners had wear, but weren’t absolutely destroyed. From an arm’s length it looked like about a 5 if you didn’t hold the wrinkles in direct light.

I thought it was one hell of a 2.5.


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plus 1 on this,i had a PSA 2.5, 57-58 topps Tom Heinsohn RC with a small crease that other wise would imo a 7.

[VanLingoMungo46]

Been looking for a 48 Leaf Ted for much of the year. Finally grabbed the 1.5 a month ago and very pleased. My objectives for this card was to favor centering and registration as most important and to avoid unsightly stains and ink blots, especially around the player image. I got this card for around 1/3rd the price of what the bottom card will get on the open market. Pretty stoked not gonna lie.

[corndog]

Originally Posted by VanLingoMungo46

Been looking for a 48 Leaf Ted for much of the year. Finally grabbed the 1.5 a month ago and very pleased. My objectives for this card was to favor centering and registration as most important and to avoid unsightly stains and ink blots, especially around the player image. I got this card for around 1/3rd the price of what the bottom card will get on the open market. Pretty stoked not gonna lie.

Nice!

The 1.5 is the better card all day long, IMO.