Is this card over-graded?

farmercards

Although I have been reading this message board for about 6 months, this is my first post. Some of the collectors here have bought my cards on ebay or privately. I own some baseball, football and non-sports cards from the mid 1950s - 1961. I have had about 100 cards graded by PSA and have been generally satisfied with the grades and have accepted to take the good with the bad. I do not buy cards, I only sell them but would rather keep them - I'm a huge baseball fan but not a card collector the way many of you are.

I am compelled to post because of a card that I feel is grossly misgraded. Ironically, with all the posts about how tough the grades have been lately (and I agree for the most part), my issue is with a card that is graded a 9. I am attaching a scan of my 1960 Topps #160 Rival All Stars (Mantle and Boyer). When I received the card back from PSA I immediately noticed a pencil-thin line running through the entire lenght of the front of the card. Not having noticed this line prior to submitting it, I was certain the line was on the inside of the holder and returned it as instructed by the CS person.

The card was mailed back to me in the exact same PSA 9 holder with the line still there and no explanation. I called PSA and sent it back again. This time the CS guy told me they removed the card and the line was a "print line" but the grade would stay a 9. Completely astonished I had to accept this without further recourse. After a while I called and asked to speak to a manager and was told by a CS manager to resend it and it would be submitted for "Presidential Review" and if PSA agreed that it was over-graded, I would be compensated.

I was just told today by that manager that the card was reviewed by the head grader and the Director of Operations and that a manufacturer's print line does not prevent the card from being graded a 9, but would prevent it from being a 10 (I have never received a 10). I am quite flabbergasted by all this and would think this card wouldn't even warrant an 8 the way it appears.

All of my vintage cards have never been owned by anyone outside of my wife's family. The cards were given to her grandmother by a Topps/Bowman pressman. They have never been packaged, handled, and are mostly in near mint or mint condition. No matter what the set, these cards are always in number sequence and I would think printed on the same day. Strangely, none of my other 1960s have print lines - and I'm not suggesting anything and I don't have a scan of the card before it was graded, but I did value it at $500 on the submission form, thinking it was probably an 8 but possibly a 9.

I would like to hear some opinions as to what you think the card should be graded - does anyone have any experience with high graded cards with print lines, that type of thing. I guess I just needed to get this off my chest. I do enjoy reading the posts here and value the opinions of many of the experts who post here. Thanks.

(I wasn't successful including the scan, so I am providing a link - sorry)

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=588916212105&photoid=488916212105#


Kevin Farmer
farmteam3@yahoo.com

34GoudeyCollector

The link doesn't appear to work Kevin.

mikeschmidt

It's a nice card. It probably is a low-end 9 in my books. I've seen many 9s with print lines or print dots. Sometimes it is really distracting - here it is not. Other considerations, like centering, corners, etc. are all very strong, it seems.

Kevin - part of the "problem" is that we, as collectors, often have divergent standards than those employed by PSA. Some of us are cenering hounds - some of us like no breaks in edges (on dark-bordered cards). If you read through PSA's grading standards - this card probably is a PSA 9, even if you do not believe it is. I've seen some PSA 10s that are way more off-centered than what I feel is "right" for a PSA 10.

I'm interested to hear more about the cards you received. Do you have any 1955 Bowmans? Thanks for the post.

mschoenen@mba2005.hbs.edu

Hubcap

Not sure I understand your problem/point. Is it that you think the card was switched at PSA? Do you think the card should be a PSA 8 or PSA 9 PD? Do you think the card should be a PSA 10?

We all get a rude awakening when we first start submitting raw cards that we think are better then when they come back graded. You miss the wax stain on the rear, the small crease, a faint print line, frankly because too much attention is given to the corners. That is perhaps what happened to you. It usually takes me 15 minutes or more to thoroughly examine a card before I submit it. And then I go back one more time and check it again before it goes in the mailing package.

CON40

Kevin;

Couldn't read your link... but I thought I'd give you a big ol' welcome aboard! You have officially sold your soul to PSatan (hope I did not infringe on scumbi's copyright od that term!).

farmercards

Mikeschmidt - thanks so much for your insight and expecially for uploading the scan of my card to this thread - I was hoping someone would do this. I do have 55 Bowmans - we communicated several months ago when I contacted you for advice before I submitted any cards to PSA. Sorry but I am not selling any 55 Bowmans right now.

Hubcap - I'm not saying PSA switched my card and I would never make that kind of accusation - besides it wouldn't make sense. I'm only saying that I didn't notice the line before it was graded and it was very noticeable to me when I got it back from PSA. I was very surprised that a card with a noticeable line through it could be graded a 9 and was convinced there was some kind of mistake.

CON40 - Thanks for the welcome - I am a Red Sox fan too

theBobs

I can understand your desire to get your card properly graded. What I don't understand is -- if you submitted the card raw, why would compensation be in order? The card you sent is the card returned to you? Are you saying the card was damaged by PSA? Regardless of the grade on the flip, you haven't lost any money in the transaction. Why should your be compensated in this situation? I just don't get it.

At any rate, welcome to the board. I admire you trying to find the appropriate grade on the card, rather than immediately throwing the card on ebay and saddling another collector with the issue.

farmercards

theBobs - this is a good question. I think the reason I sought compensation was that I was initially convinced that the line somehow appeared on the card sometime between the time the card was graded and the card was holdered (perhaps some strange accident due to mishandling - I don't know). If this was the case, I should be compensated - now I don't know what to think about the line. Funny how no other card I own has anything resembling this print line - and I have a hundred or so 1960s taken home directly from the press room on the same day.

Anyway, I am putting this behind me - I have no intentions of trying to dump this card on someone else. If mikeschmidt says it's a 9 that's good enough for me.