New PSA grades...Gretzkys, Bird/Erving/Magic, etc

RedHeart54

I cannot complain overall here. I was pleasantly surprised by the 8s on the 1995 Home Grown Canada. (The Gretzky, Lemieux and Yzerman are all part of the scarce second half of the set and few altogether have been graded. This Lemieux and Yzerman now both pop 1, the 8 Gretzky now pop 4 and 7 pop 1.)

Semic stickers are very tough to get decent grades so not too disappointed. I thought the '89 Gretzky was at least as good as the 8 that I own (one of two in the pop report) but a 7 is still good for this sticker and it's now a pop 2. (The ink spots on the left border are on all of these so it wouldn't have been downgraded for that reason.) Not surprised about the Lemieux, it had some "bends".

Truthfully I'm the most disappointed I didn't get 9s on the Brett and Savage/Elizabeth. The 1990 (and identical looking red bordered 1989) Topps Batting Leaders is a deceptively tough junk wax era insert set that was only found in K-Mart issued blister packs. Maybe I was too optimistic but still. And PSA is always tough on 1980s OPC no matter the sport. However I was happy to get a 7 on the Bird/Erving/Magic. I was prepared for no higher than a 6 given the corner issues. It does present nicely on the front, though.

jackstraw

Nice return! I love every card you subbed!! I have an 89 Semic Gretzky that doesn't have that ink smudge on it. I didn't realize that was a thing?

RedHeart54

Not that there are a lot to compare to but I’ve seen the ink on all the others I’ve seen for sale. My 8 has it too.

threeofsix

@RedHeart54 said:
I cannot complain overall here. I was pleasantly surprised by the 8s on the 1995 Home Grown Canada. (The Gretzky, Lemieux and Yzerman are all part of the scarce second half of the set and few altogether have been graded. This Lemieux and Yzerman now both pop 1, the 8 Gretzky now pop 4 and 7 pop 1.)

Semic stickers are very tough to get decent grades so not too disappointed. I thought the '89 Gretzky was at least as good as the 8 that I own (one of two in the pop report) but a 7 is still good for this sticker and it's now a pop 2. (The ink spots on the left border are on all of these so it wouldn't have been downgraded for that reason.) Not surprised about the Lemieux, it had some "bends".

Truthfully I'm the most disappointed I didn't get 9s on the Brett and Savage/Elizabeth. The 1990 (and identical looking red bordered 1989) Topps Batting Leaders is a deceptively tough junk wax era insert set that was only found in K-Mart issued blister packs. Maybe I was too optimistic but still. And PSA is always tough on 1980s OPC no matter the sport. However I was happy to get a 7 on the Bird/Erving/Magic. I was prepared for no higher than a 6 given the corner issues. It does present nicely on the front, though.

What a nice run of cards… thanks for sharing!!!!

82FootballWaxMemorys

It really does seem like "ol' school" 7's (+weak 8's) and below are still the same but that what were previously 8,9,10 now are ofttimes 2-7. Almost as if the nicer a card appears the more it is penalized.

Anyhow I do agree that Bird/Johnson is a 7 all day and also agree with the Homegrown grades. However if the homegrown had sharper corners & edges and no color loss they probably would have received lower grades. It's a mad, mad, mad mad, world

olb31

brett 8.5 would be a little fairer. the opc wrestling card 8 looks fair based on the slant. yeah you got a little lucky on the bird.