PSA/DNA Card Questions
NGS428
Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have not dug into the autographed card market yet, curious what opinions are on the different grading/authentication options provided.
I have avoided the "Trading Card" cards with no year or card brand. I am also sticking to an auto grade of 10 on this card.
I am looking at the Griffey1989 UF rookie below, so if the card has a card grade, I would want it to be a 9 or better. Premium for a 10 on this one is insane. Thoughts on having a card grade of 9 vs authentic? Cost is about $700 for the with card grade of 9 vs $400 for authentic.
2 below are just examples, the first one is no longer for sale. Ideally I could find equal centering/eye appeal on each.
How about the auto, finer sharpie seems a bit better to me. Trying to capture the signature better.
Any thoughts or comments on this topic would be appreciated. Thank you!
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Comments
I love the PSA/DNA cards. I have a registry set of 1961 baseball. Personally, I purchase only the red flip labels because the blue ones only authenticate the auto and not the card. I don't purchase the "Trading Card" labels because the cert numbers aren't allowed into my registry set. There are several nice cards I need but they have that "Trading card" label which sucks. I don't have the time to crack them out and resubmit them to get the appropriate 1961 Topps label. Anyway, either Griffey card is nice if you decide to purchase them. It all depends on your personal preference regarding the card grade over the authentic designation. For me I prefer what the auto looks like over any card grade and have no problem with the authentic card grade as long as the auto is nice.
You can sub them under review for dual authentication without cracking them.
I also favor dual graded myself. There are a lot of the 89 UD Griffey cards with autos in 9 and 10 grades. $700 seems a bit high for a 9/10 but if that’s what the market is….
On the trading card label there’s a period of time where that presents some ambiguity as to whether the card is legitimate or not. PSA has since moved to using “CARD” to indicate a reprint or other non-authentic but there were many years where trading card could mean either. Be careful.
As far as pen it’s always between sharpie and staedtler. Check out signed examples and see which looks best for the players sig. sometimes it’s nice to do a certain color based on card color scheme.
On card autos have heated up tremendously the past couple years. It’s been tough to complete some of my projects and prices keep going up. It’s never a guarantee that the demand dies down but it usually does ebb and flow. Right now prices are pretty high on hof rookie cards especially.
I appreciated the feedback. I’ll just have to find one that has some good eye appeal. Might be an authentic one, we’ll see.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
4SC lists and sells them regularly at $700. Auctions are closer to $630 if I remember right. A dual 10 just sold for $14,500. Quite insane!
Thanks for the other tips! Really good info!
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Totally believe they are going for that. But I saw the pop count the other day on set registry and was a little surprised.
@bgr I’m with ya, quite surprised too.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Along this line, I too like the dual graded cards. I'm working towards getting all my Topps Rookie Cup autos dual graded. In I believe every dual grade submission I've sent over the last several years one of two will get a card "Authentic" grade but an auto number grade. I don't put in min grade requirements on any of the cards. Would there be a reason for this or is this just a labeling/service type error on PSA's part? I'm not sure what would make one Authentic but not gradable with no minimum grade. Trimming is the only thing I can think of but don't think any of these cards would fall there. Thoughts?
www.questfortherookiecup.com
You would have to look at the designator for the authentic grade. It means the card is authentic but could be altered in some way - or not, but they believe it is. They don’t always get it right.
Here’s a Ryan which I cracked from a PSA 6 slab to get auto’d. Came back great. Sent into PSA and…. Voila. Authentic.
N0. Which is Altered Authentic.
It’s a crap-shoot with them sometimes.
Did you wipe down the Ryan with baby powder so the auto wouldn't bubble? I've always wondered if by doing that, it would affect the grade of the card. You have to do it on modern cards with gloss, but older cards do it sometimes too if there's a little wax on them.
I hadn't even heard of people doing this until you mentioned it. I looked it up on YouTube and saw a couple videos.... It seems like a bad idea, to me, to rub a powder or any other substance that would have grit on a sports card. I do think that picking the right pen for the card and the auto is important.
It's common practice with newer glossy cards. You have to do it to get the gloss off so the sharpie doesn't bubble. Staedtlers don't require it but are more expensive than sharpies.
I can only say that I haven't had any issues with signatures on newer glossy, chrome, or other cards and I don't use any substance to prepare the surface. I would call the statement that "You have to do it" so the "sharpie doesn't bubble" into question. Do you get a lot of autos on glossy and/or chrome cards and see this issue?
Yes, up until a couple years ago, I was a pretty hard core ip grapher. Had season tickets to local teams to get autographs and would also travel all around the midwest to get autographs at stadiums. Had close to 15k signed modern cards at one point. I've slowed my graphing due to life getting in the way, but still submit to private signings.