Buying ASA, CSA, PGS graded cards

grilloj39

I like to buy cards slabbed by these companies...some great deals can be had and in some cases if I think the card is graded accurately do not crossover. For instance, a low priority is to finish my 72 topps basketball set. I recently purchased some PGS 8 graded cards for 99 cents apiece. I am not a grading expert by any sense of the imagination, but I do feel these cards are graded accurately.

I believe in some cases its cheaper to buy these cards in building my sets. Are there others like me who constantly search e-bay with keywords "ASA", "CSA", "PGS", etc.

Any thoughts on ASA would be appreciated...even though they have a complex grading structure (I believe 3 tiers based on tobacco, vintage, and modern) they are somewhat accurate imo. Any comments would be appreciated.

qualitycards

<< <i>Are there others like me who constantly search e-bay with keywords "ASA", "CSA", "PGS", etc. >>


GRILLO - I see these grading companies slabs come up many times when I search "PSA". Many sellers spam PSA in the title of just about every grading company. Not saying your 3 that you listed are good, bad or indifferent, just that I tend to see them when I'm not looking for them...jay

curmudgeon

ASA cards are usually or at least often trimmed. I suppose if you're looking for post-1960 commons, there's a decent chance that someone naively submitted to ASA for some reason, and the card is legit. Otherwise, forget it--I'm sure you don't want a trimmed card, regardlesss of price.

I bought one ASA card a few years ago-- a T206 graded ASA 8 Rube Oldring. Paid close to $200, somewhat confident that the scan looked OK, and there were several bidders, with no apparent shills. Submited it to SGC, and it came back trimmed, making me feel like the Rube.

Todd

koby

I have tried to cross cards from each of these grading companies. ASA and CSA are horrible. Not only are their grading criteria much more lenient than traditional companies, a majority of the cards come back as ungradeable with evidence of trimming or other alterations.

I hate the PGS holder and they are very tough to crack open. However, with my small sample of 15 PGS cards, I have found that PGS is the best of the three companies that you have listed.

Only one in fifteen of the PGS card came back as ungradeable by PSA. Seven crossed over to the same number grade. Seven crossed over to lower grades.

Not bad considering how cheap I purchased these PGS cards for. If PSA, SGC, GAI, SCD and Beckett did not exist, I would say that PGS is the company that I would look for.

aro13

grilloj39 - There is no question that "bargains" can be found in ASA, CSA and PGS holders. The major problem with ASA grading is "whose card is in the graded holder?"
When I used to submit and talk to Alan Hager fairly frequently in the early to mid-90's I found he was very good at detecting trimmed and altered cards. On a few occasions he would check out a card and tell me that it had been restored, where it was restored, and that only a few people were capable of such work. So I believe although he got quite a bit of flack for his ability to grade I found him a decent grader. The problem is that so many of the cards that he owned that he sold were trimmed or altered and they were in ASA holders. Determining which ones were submitted by people and which ones he put in holders himself is the key. I do know that the early letters on an ASA holder are who the grader was and that he had at least three graders including himself.
I had quite a few ASA cards that I submitted to PSA in the past 3 or 4 years. Most of the ones I bought from a Hager auction came back altered or trimmed, the ones that I gave to him myself to grade came back within one grade every time. If you feel you can tell a trimmed or altered card from a scan on ebay than you might be able to get quite a few ASA bargains as most people avoid them.

grilloj39

aro...I am familiar with ASAs past, but I've been lucky...partly because I don't buy anything from these companies of high value/high grade. for example, what I am looking for is a 15-20 card that I can get for 5 and in some cases less. If I buy a high value card it is of the low grade type (equal to or less than 3).

But you make a great point, one must be extra careful in buying these cards. I hope my luck will continue...knock on wood

highend

a while backs simsclassics had a large run of PGS cards, it may have been on these boards or from a buddy that i heard they were a southern based christian card company.

invader73

This was the previous discussion about PGS:

PGS Discussion



Matt

Ironmanfan

Speaking of ASA/Alan Hager, does anyone know what happened to him? About 10 years ago, he was pretty "high profile" (catalogs, auctions, full page SCD ads, etc.) in the hobby. My only experience with him is that I purhased a blank backed proof card of Cal Ripken Sr. ('87 Topps Traded). Just curious, thats all.

cspeier1

I've also crossed ASA, PGS, BCCG, TFA, and Mint to PSA with unreal luck. I also feel if PSA, SGC, GAI and I guess BGS would go away, I'd buy a lot more PGS. They seem to have good pricing and a somewhat helpful website. Here is the last crossover I submitted to PSA as crossovers. Also, for some odd reason I've had SGC cards grade HIGHER at PSA than I would expect.. Just my 2 cents..

Chad
EMAIL

PGS 8- PSA 8 (Dayne Topps Chrome RC)
PGS 7- PSA 7 (Elway rookie)
PGS 8.5- PSA 8 (Brady Bowman Chrome)
ASA 9- PSA 8 (Lott rookie)
TFA 9- PSA 9 (Moss Bowman Chrome RC)
TFA 10- PSA 10 (McCaffrey AP RC)
MINT 10- PSA 9 (Plummer BB RC)

SGC 7.5- PSA 9!!! (Elway rookie)
SGC 8- PSA 9!!! (Monk Rookie)

aro13

Ironmanfan - After the Dennis Purdy article in the VCBC (issue #7 or #8) I do not think Hager ran another auction. He still has his grading company and sells on ebay under the handle ah-collectibles. He mostly has coins though. Once in a while he will sell cards.