What Do We Have Graded?

9 thoughts on “What Do We Have Graded?”

1. Gellman at SCU wrote an entry on the requirements for grading last year. I would only grade with PSA rather than Beckett. That’s just preference. As for criteria, these are mine:
   1. Rookie card (preferably Bowman)
   2. Autographed
   3. Serial numbered more than 25

2. If you want to save money, have them slab your credit card!

3. I wouldn’t grade anything that wasn’t made before 1980 or a very valuable rookie after 1980. And I’d never want my cards to be in those ugly Beckett slabs. I’d rather have a non-graded card than something that Beckett has touched. Only PSA for me!

4. When I got back into collecting, I found that I had a Jerry Rice RC. It was in pretty terrible shape, but still… IT WAS MINE! I had a free grading coming to me from Beckett, so I decided what the hell. It got a 4.5–and deservedly so. I also found that I had a Barry Bonds ’87 Topps RC. It had been sitting in a binder for over a decade, so I assumed it was in decent shape. I was curious to see how Beckett would grade it. They gave it an 8. I also bought a Brett Favre Stadium Club RC and had that one done as well. I did my own little inspection on it and I thought it looked to be a 9 or 9.5. Beckett gave it an 8.5.

   So, to answer your question… apparently for me it needs to be a rookie card and has to look like it’s in mint condition, unless the grading is for free–in which case it can look like it’s been eaten by the family dog, cat, bird, fish, guinea pig, rooster, and iguana.

   topher

5. I agree with Dave but I do have some exceptions. For example, my brother gave me a Brian Urlacher Bowman Chrome Rc for Christmas. This card looks like it could be a ten, so I am going to send this in along with a couple other cards. My Walter Payton Rc and I also have a Jerry Rice auto that was signed at a private signing so there is no sticker or stamp on the card saying that it is authentic. I could’ve sold this card if it was guaranteed a few different times. If your Pujols looks really good to you, then do it. It could be worth the money. What Pujols do you have?

6. I have the 2001 Bowman, the generic one. I also have another one on the way from eBay, nothing fancy but a rookie none the less.

   I agree with what most of you are saying, I don’t really care that much for the graded slabs but depending on who it is I feel like it might not be a bad idea. I’m going to consider my 2 Pujols and that’s probably about it for now.

   By the way, slabbing my credit card sounds like the best idea yet.

7. I think it depends on what you want to do with your cards.

   I’m not an “investor collector” but I like getting good cards graded because it provides some authentication and I like to actively show my cards to people.

   I’m not a buy it and throw it in the shoe box collector, I like to show different cards to people, kids, and handle them.

   Encapsulating them provides this great protection – that way I don’t have to hand it to someone like it’s a newborn baby.

   Just my 2 cents.

8. I think JRJ has it right–it’s primarily a bit of forethought about why you want to have cards graded in the first place.

   I have submitted only to BGS over the years, but I do own a number of PSA / SGC specimens, and even acquired a couple lame-offs here and there. I actually think that PSA’s holders are quite unattractive compared to BGS. However, they are much flatter, making transport and storage easier.

   Here are some of the things I consider:

   – Grade, grade, grade–especially centering. Unless it’s exceedingly rare or unusual, (especially for cards post 1980), make sure that you think is damn near perfect a specimen that exists.

   Trust me–even your evaluation will get hammered by their graders, and you’ll be lucky to walk out with a 8.5 or 9. It’s not just corners and edges.

   – Decide if you are slabbing for personal preservation of a keeper, or maximization of value for an intended sale. If for a sale, consider the point above, again. A 10 from BGS is a Holy Grail, but also is about as easy to acquire.

   – Check the population report on the Beckett website for each card you are considering. Grading yet another 85 McGwire or 87 Bonds or 89 Griffey is about as helpful as a three-legged spider.

   If you have a high-quality specimen within a low population (meaning your card might be king of it’s kind in BGS), that could be a relative premium at sale, as long as that stays true.

   – I like to slab some oddball stuff, no matter how old, since the populations tend to be low (54 Red Heart, 06 Bonds road to 714 corrected version, etc.).

   – I have been very pleased slabbing *very* sharp looking older cards that aren’t rookies, or “special”, like 78 Bench and Carlton–they both came back 9.5s, and I like having high grades of some older star cards of no important year.

   – Beckett sometimes seems to be more generous with cards that get punched out of perforations (like 77 Topps Mexican Football), or have a fuzzy edge-cut as a common characteristic (84-85 OPC Hockey, for example). I have gotten what I thought to be much higher grades than would have come back on the cards that were submitted–even two digits worth, like a 5 to 7.5.

   Hope this helps!

9. I appreciate everyone’s perspective on this. I had an Alex Gordon graded a while back, Bowman chrome rookie because I thought it looked like a 9.5 or a 10, and it ended up a 9.5 which made me happy. I have a few other old cards I did just for their protection.

   I do agree that it is much easier to handle favorite cards when they are protected by cases, and over-protected by the slabs.

   I think this will depend on how much I end up finding to add to my collection. If I find a lot of cards, well BGS will wait, if not perhaps I will take the plunge on my Pujols cards.

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