Another 71 topps question...
purelyPSA
Posts: 712 ✭✭
I've never actually seen a mint 9 card, so I have to ask you guys.
I have an ungraded Luke Walker card that is darn near perfect. The top 2 corners are completely sharp and totally black; the bottom 2 are both sharp to the point where if this was a white bordered card it'd get a 9, but there are two little white spots along the bottom edge at the corners. No ding problems, just a little white on the botttom of the card at each corner. Perfect centering, great color, no focus or print problems. Do I have a 9, or just a really nice 8? And if it is indeed an 8, and 9s have to have no white showing whatsoever, then what's the difference between a 9 and a 10?
I have an ungraded Luke Walker card that is darn near perfect. The top 2 corners are completely sharp and totally black; the bottom 2 are both sharp to the point where if this was a white bordered card it'd get a 9, but there are two little white spots along the bottom edge at the corners. No ding problems, just a little white on the botttom of the card at each corner. Perfect centering, great color, no focus or print problems. Do I have a 9, or just a really nice 8? And if it is indeed an 8, and 9s have to have no white showing whatsoever, then what's the difference between a 9 and a 10?
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Comments
I'm definitely not a good one to answer your question but a 1971 psa 9 is absolutely a thing of beauty. If they weren't so expensive and hard to find I would collect them in a heartbeat. To me there seems to be a very large visual difference between 8's and 9's.
Wayne
The easy questions
There are only 7 PSA 10's total for the set. I have ony seen scans, never in person. What differentiates between a 9 and a 10, I have no idea. I have a few 9's that one would swear are 10's (I know that I do), not a hint of white, blazing gloss, perfect centering, color and registration. All of my 9's have no white showing.
As for the description of your card, sounds like a very nice 8. I could be wrong, and I hope for your sake that I am. Those two specks of white are going to throw the deal in my estimation.
Truth be told, I've considered bumping down to doing the set in 7 rather than 8; I could put together a really nice set at a small fraction of the cost. I'll wait until I get this submission back from the 70s special next month before I decide, because if the effort I've put in to find nice cards winds up in half 8s and half 7s, I'll downgrade for sure.
Even some 6's are blazers. I have many that could easily be 8's or 9's but that are a bit off center or contain a smidge of of a printer dot.
I wish I could compete with the big boys for the 8's, 9's, and 10's, but I just don't have the means right now. But I've been lucky in buying my cards from many of the top '71 set collectors (like andiehaley, RobD, and Zardoz) who submitted the cards in hopes of 8's or 9's, so you know they are nice cards.
I call it my '71 Topps Trickle Down Economics Theory!