Opinions on comping the value of items with half grades

billwaltonsbeard

Obviously there aren't near as many sales of .5 items. Just curious about how you guys come up with comp values.

Bosox1976

Maybe one fourth or one third of the way between the whole grade prices? Am thinking more of 8.5's. At lower grades you might see a higher percentage...

brad31

I love 8.5s - my favorite grade. Impossible to comp really, as there are often multi-year gaps between sales and some are nicer than others.

I see them go from 20% to 50% the difference between an 8 or a 9 and the sales prices are very unpredictable. I think Bosox is correct that 1/4 to 1/3 is the range most fall in. I am talking about baseball HOFers from the 50s and 60s as those are what I collect and follow.

On 7s to 7.5s the price difference seems smaller than that - but I have paid all the way up to just shy of the 8 price on lower value cards (late sixties less collected HOFers that go for about $20in a 7) when the 7.5 is better than any 8s I can find.

olb31

if it's really centered, it could go for more than 20-50 range, but 33% more is fair number for most.

1951WheatiesPremium

For the non elite, non high grade stuff, I really think it just depends on the card. A beautiful card for the grade is going to do better than an example that is a half or even a full grade higher that is ‘weak’ despite being a grade higher.

Prices paid in vintage do back this up; more and more people seem to want to buy the card over the flip these days - for all different rationales. A sharp, clean well centered four or five is competing well with the five or six with sharper corners but less desirable centering more often.

These are both very nice cards from the 1969 Topps set that were graded accurately of a couple of HOF players - one with great corners and one with great centering…

…and they’re both great cards in their own way. But as a collectors who geeks out on good centering, I know which one I prefer (and not just because it’s Mickey Charles).

PS - Special thanks to @ReedDACW for the Reggie many years back. A really solid experience is what you can always expect with a “Reed Buy” 😉

rugbymarine

@1951WheatiesPremium said:
For the non elite, non high grade stuff, I really think it just depends on the card. A beautiful card for the grade is going to do better than an example that is a half or even a full grade higher that is ‘weak’ despite being a grade higher.

Prices paid in vintage do back this up; more and more people seem to want to buy the card over the flip these days - for all different rationales. A sharp, clean well centered four or five is competing well with the five or six with sharper corners but less desirable centering more often.

I agree with this right here.

For half grades, or any grade really, If I think a card looks REALLY nice, I'll bid very strong for it. My logic is that if I think a PSA 7 looks nicer than most of the PSA 8's that I see, then I should be willing to pony up close to the PSA 8 price for it. To answer the OP's specific questions, if a PSA 7 sells for 100, and a PSA 8 sells for $250, then I would expect a PSA 7.5 to sell around $150, with the above caveat suggesting that a nicer looking 7.5 could fetch closer to PSA 8 prices.

(I paid strong 'next grade above' prices for both of these cards. Since I bought that 57 Kaline, I still haven't seen an 8 that looks as nice as this one)

billwaltonsbeard

Thank you all for your input........so my takeaway here is that you guys all agree that a nicely centered card with a half grade could be fairly priced near the mid-point between the whole grades.

1951WheatiesPremium

@billwaltonsbeard said:
Thank you all for your input........so my takeaway here is that you guys all agree that a nicely centered card with a half grade could be fairly priced near the mid-point between the whole grades.

Yes, and maybe even up to the next grade level for the lower and mid tiers on an exceptional example.

Good luck, my good man!

emar

A nice Eckersley 8 is at $180-$200.
9s are at $1500-$1800

I have a couple comps on my 8.5 @ $300 and $400.
I'd expect it to do a little better in today's market, maybe $500.

rugbymarine

@emar said:
A nice Eckersley 8 is at $180-$200.
9s are at $1500-$1800

I have a couple comps on my 8.5 @ $300 and $400.
I'd expect it to do a little better in today's market, maybe $500.

This is the area where I especially love half grades. That 8.5 looks as good as MOST of the 9s out there, for a 25-40% of what a 9 costs.

detroitfan2

I am a firm believer that cards with half-grades are under-valued in many cases because they simply get less "looks" than cards with full grades. I think we would be surprised by the number of people who search for a specific grade and thus don't even see the half-grade for sale, especially set registry collectors. Obviously not true for 1952 Topps Mantles, but for vintage commons (even rarer ones), I believe this to be the case.

clarke442

I was looking at some of my inventory on the PSA site and noticed this.
They have a price for a 10, but not the 8.5's

Copyboy1

For me, I don't buy many half grades because:

1. The jump in price is big enough that isn't worth it just to get a .5 grade bump.
2. The jump in price is small enough that it's worth it just to move up to the next grade.