Those printers creases..ouch!

Ripken

Just received another shipment from PSA with about 7 cards that are otherwise 8/9/10 material coming back 5's and even a 4 because of the very faint wavy creases that were a part of the less than sophisticated printing process of the time. It's a common thing when dealing with cards in the '70s but it's frustrating when it's so hard to see as you prepare a shipment.

I guess I should mark a minimum grade on these orders, but does anyone know a grading service that doesn't hold this against the overall grade? I thought SCD bragged about knowing all of the quirks from older printing processes and indicated they wouldn't hold that against you. True or not?

I also sent in some '85 Topps stickers of Montana. One was graded 8 (I think on some of these less popular issues they guess what they're supposed to look like and refuse to offer 9s and 10s) and the other wasn't graded because of what they termed "evidence of trimming". These stickers--again thanks to Topps presses--NEVER come out with a uniform size. The stickers I own came directly from unopened packs. Will PSA reconsider?

brucemo

A wrinkle is a wrinkle, and anyone who doesn't downgrade for one on an old card is on drugs. Any card with a wrinkle is going to drop to 4 or 5, typically 4 if the wrinkle is on the front and 5 if it's on the back.

My bet is that if you find a high-grade slabbed card with a wrinkle, the grader either missed it, which is nasty but this happens to every grader, or is grading as the submitter's agent, which is evil.

bruce

calleocho

NickM

bruce - don't forget careless slabbers gving a card a wrinkle after it's been graded. Both this and corner dings are occasional consequences of the employees at any grading company being human.

Nick

metsfan

Ripken:
Even new cards have wrinkles. The 1999 ultimate victory short printed rookies are notorious for back wrinkles. Try to look very close at both sides of the card before submitting.

MickeyC

I had an 89 UD Griffey come back with a 5, small wrinkle on the front that isn't noticable unless you squint.

Mark

aro13

I am with NickM on this issue. It is remarkable how many cards have small wrinkles on the back in the exact same spot.

brucemo

I doubt that the graders do this to many. I have never added a wrinkle to a card, except once when I ran over one with a chair. It has to be much more common to ding a corner.

Judging from how many wrinkled "NM" cards I've gotten in the mail, I bet that the vast majority of the wrinkles you see on "high grade" graded cards were missed by the grader.

bruce