Is 1986 fleer Michael Jordan rookie card being under graded by PSA on purpose?

[CommomSensei88]

Is 1986 fleer Michael Jordan rookie card being under graded by PSA on purpose?

The reason I ask is because I've noticed a lot of PSA 8's that look like 9's, it seems they are stricter on grading his card than any other player in the set to keep population down.

There are 27,001 cards graded and only 3,060 PSA 9's that just seems odd.

There are only 333 PSA 10's.

I know Any card that is multiplies of 11. ie....... 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 110, 121, 132. , As there is the rule of 11 in which cards that are multiples of 11 in this set are generally condition sensitive and will often command a significant premium over the normal values you would expect for that player card.

Michael Jordan's rookie doesn't seem to be one of those listed.

[Gary]

All grading co's grade the name as much as the card.nobody is paying attention to that 10th year LT is a 9 or 10.......everyone is looking at the 86 Jordan.....80 Rickey,81 Montana ect ect........Over grading a high profile card is a really bad look for any grading co.....they need to protect their brand.

People will say "well every 86 Jordan get subbed"and while that has some truth to it and a contributing factor.....its not "the reason" that 8 looks like a 9...and so on.we have all seen questionable 10's.......and the reverse questionable 8's that look like 10's......the latter happens more often on key cards the former on cards not as notable.there are always exceptions but in general it holds true.just one of those unspoken things in the hobby that everyone knows about.though these things do get talked about on forums like this....we are in fact a spec of the overall numbers in the hobby.nothing said here affects the hobby at large.

[Hess687]

Essentially, they are trying to keep the card market afloat long term. The lesser the 10's the higher the value which is good for them. Especially when they have so many /49's /10/s /5's etc....in the market these days.

The less they grade a 10 the higher the prices and the limited the number the better. Think Honus Wagner.

So a Cooper Flagg which which is /50 they'll be harder on helps them out due to harder grading.

It's a business, man. Gone are the days of pulling a case hit and expecting max value. You'll now need to grade it to ensure max profit.

[Hess687]

Originally Posted by Hess687

Essentially, they are trying to keep the card market afloat long term. The lesser the 10's the higher the value which is good for them. Especially when they have so many /49's /10/s /5's etc....in the market these days.

The less they grade a 10 the higher the prices and the limited the number the better. Think Honus Wagner.

So a Cooper Flagg which which is /50 they'll be harder on helps them out due to harder grading.

It's a business, man. Gone are the days of pulling a case hit and expecting max value. You'll now need to grade it to ensure max profit.

Duplicate post

[Hess687]

Originally Posted by Gary

All grading co's grade the name as much as the card.nobody is paying attention to that 10th year LT is a 9 or 10.......everyone is looking at the 86 Jordan.....80 Rickey,81 Montana ect ect........Over grading a high profile card is a really bad look for any grading co.....they need to protect their brand.

People will say "well every 86 Jordan get subbed"and while that has some truth to it and a contributing factor.....its not "the reason" that 8 looks like a 9...and so on.we have all seen questionable 10's.......and the reverse questionable 8's that look like 10's......the latter happens more often on key cards the former on cards not as notable.there are always exceptions but in general it holds true.just one of those unspoken things in the hobby that everyone knows about.though these things do get talked about on forums like this....we are in fact a spec of the overall numbers n the hobby.nothing said here affects the hobby at large.

Bingo

[mikejones]

Is the fleer 1986 Charles Barkley being under graded on purpose by psa?

[Hess687]

Originally Posted by mikejones

Is the fleer 1986 Charles Barkley being under graded on purpose by psa?

There's always one card from a certain set that's worth more than others.... Jordan, Curry, Kobe....etc.....the rest of the cards, while they hold certain value, don't hold max value and you'll always be chasing the main player.

[CommomSensei88]

Originally Posted by Gary

All grading co's grade the name as much as the card.nobody is paying attention to that 10th year LT is a 9 or 10.......everyone is looking at the 86 Jordan.....80 Rickey,81 Montana ect ect........Over grading a high profile card is a really bad look for any grading co.....they need to protect their brand.

People will say "well every 86 Jordan get subbed"and while that has some truth to it and a contributing factor.....its not "the reason" that 8 looks like a 9...and so on.we have all seen questionable 10's.......and the reverse questionable 8's that look like 10's......the latter happens more often on key cards the former on cards not as notable.there are always exceptions but in general it holds true.just one of those unspoken things in the hobby that everyone knows about.though these things do get talked about on forums like this....we are in fact a spec of the overall numbers in the hobby.nothing said here affects the hobby at large.

I noticed with a lot of Jordan PSA 8's you do not see many bad examples as you would other players 8's in the set, Jordan 8's look a lot better than most others.

[RKH916]

PSA is undergrading basically everything. But especially 90's and Jordan. I'm pretty sure there's some collusion with high end collectors to alter the grading scale and pop report. What was an 8 two years ago now qualifies for a 6. This pushes the market in the direction that the connected players want it to go. It also softens the blow of the BGS Pristine.

If you want historically accurate grades, send them to Beckett.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by mikejones

Is the fleer 1986 Charles Barkley being under graded on purpose by psa?

Asked an answered in its own topic,we dont need to beat that dead horse again here.

[Bosoxfan5990]

We needed another one of these threads.

[NBAicons]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

We needed another one of these threads.

The whole company is such a complete sham I feel like we don't have nearly enough threads on it.

[mikejones]

Speaking of Michael Jordan, when you heard this, you're probably losing.

[dizzy4111]

PSA is basically a criminal enterprise so of course

[90skid]

we need to keep an audit history of how many new 10's show up per year.

So, 333 is the current pop to start off 2026.

What's anyone's prediction on what the 10 pop will be by 2030? Personally, I think it'll still be in the 300's

But then again, I seem to recall the pop being around 250ish back in 2020,2021?

[rogueriver]

The answer is YES. However there is more to think about I am willing to bet that most of the 9s have been submitted 3 or more times to try and get a 10

[asujbl]

Blowout hurts my brain

[asujbl]

Originally Posted by dizzy4111

PSA is basically a criminal enterprise so of course

Basically

[livfreely]

Originally Posted by RKH916

PSA is undergrading basically everything. But especially 90's and Jordan. I'm pretty sure there's some collusion with high end collectors to alter the grading scale and pop report. What was an 8 two years ago now qualifies for a 6. This pushes the market in the direction that the connected players want it to go. It also softens the blow of the BGS Pristine.

If you want historically accurate grades, send them to Beckett.

This


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[asujbl]

Originally Posted by RKH916

PSA is undergrading basically everything. But especially 90's and Jordan. I'm pretty sure there's some collusion with high end collectors to alter the grading scale and pop report. What was an 8 two years ago now qualifies for a 6. This pushes the market in the direction that the connected players want it to go. It also softens the blow of the BGS Pristine.

If you want historically accurate grades, send them to Beckett.

Send them to BGS

Collections Universe doesn’t care about BGS

That will be dead by 2030. It will be wheee kids send their cards like BCCG

But sure

[MJGOAT23]

Originally Posted by 90skid

we need to keep an audit history of how many new 10's show up per year.

So, 333 is the current pop to start off 2026.

What's anyone's prediction on what the 10 pop will be by 2030? Personally, I think it'll still be in the 300's

But then again, I seem to recall the pop being around 250ish back in 2020,2021?

I thought it was 300-325 for the past 10 years at least but I agree, it shouldnt climb very high. I'm sure there's still a small # tucked away raw or undiscovered in original collections but there's very little wax left unopened. I'd bet nearly all graded packs are the leftovers from boxes where the MJs were already pulled and there's a reason BBCE was offering a straight up bounty to SEE a case 10-15+ yrs ago. Say what you will about how mass produced it is, it was horrible, HORRIBLE production quality and best of luck finding a BGS 9.5 that crosses to a 10. Most 9.5's are high end centered 9's that were crossed to min gem, with a tip touch on a corner or edge that PSA wouldn't let through but BGS does with a 9 sub grade.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by MJGOAT23

I thought it was 300-325 for the past 10 years at least but I agree, it shouldnt climb very high. I'm sure there's still a small # tucked away raw or undiscovered in original collections but there's very little wax left unopened. I'd bet nearly all graded packs are the leftovers from boxes where the MJs were already pulled and there's a reason BBCE was offering a straight up bounty to SEE a case 10-15+ yrs ago. Say what you will about how mass produced it is, it was horrible, HORRIBLE production quality and best of luck finding a BGS 9.5 that crosses to a 10. Most 9.5's are high end centered 9's that were crossed to min gem, with a tip touch on a corner or edge that PSA wouldn't let through but BGS does with a 9 sub grade.

There is a lot of truth in this post......but a lot of guys will ignore it.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by MJGOAT23

I thought it was 300-325 for the past 10 years at least but I agree, it shouldnt climb very high. I'm sure there's still a small # tucked away raw or undiscovered in original collections but there's very little wax left unopened. I'd bet nearly all graded packs are the leftovers from boxes where the MJs were already pulled and there's a reason BBCE was offering a straight up bounty to SEE a case 10-15+ yrs ago. Say what you will about how mass produced it is, it was horrible, HORRIBLE production quality and best of luck finding a BGS 9.5 that crosses to a 10. Most 9.5's are high end centered 9's that were crossed to min gem, with a tip touch on a corner or edge that PSA wouldn't let through but BGS does with a 9 sub grade.

But PSA gives 10s to off-centered cards that would be lucky to get a BGS 9 and people pay 6 figures for them.

[Tommy1380]

Originally Posted by rats60

But PSA gives 10s to off-centered cards that would be lucky to get a BGS 9 and people pay 6 figures for them.

This. A BGS min gem is no different than a PSA 10 with 9 at best centering.

[MJGOAT23]

Originally Posted by Tommy1380

This. A BGS min gem is no different than a PSA 10 with 9 at best centering.

OK so check them out. Find a BGS 9.5 MJ RC with 9 centering and 9.5 on the rest and see if the corners, edges AND surface have no combination of whitening and print dots at a level that PSA would let fly today on a PSA 10.

I know there are a few legacy PSA 10's that have NO business in the 10 holder but we're talking today, in 2026... There's a reason they haven't been crossed into 10's.

Maybe there is a copy or 2 that hasn't been through the paces, but who wouldn't take the 40-50K card and turn it into 250-300K if they could? It's because they've tried and been rejected. I tried this 10-12 yrs ago when the prices were somewhat manageable in my quest to have every PSA grade but even then, 4500 for a crossover attempt or crack and cross was no joke. Nowadays it's a huge buy in to try but if you had one all this time, surely it was attempted, and if it's for sale, it probably didn't cross.