1995 Bowman's Best Vlad Guerrero PSA 10 Refractor

psavlad

For everyone that read my last post this is the card I was talking about. 1995 Bowman's Best Vladimir Guerrero PSA 10 Refractor. Please everyone take a look at the Top to Bottom centering, it is extremly off center, even the Left to Right isn't very good but would probably pass. When I compare this card to my PSA 9oc my OC has better centering Top to Bottom AND Left to Right!!! The difference in value will be seen when this auction ends but right now the 10 is selling for $800 more. A PSA 10 copy of this card would truly be an amazing thing and this is a card I have dreamed of owning for years. There are only 4 that have been PSA 10's compared to my still limited PSA 9 version which is under 30. It would also upgrade my PSA 9 in my Registry. However, I have thought about it and realized (will help from you guys) I would be throwing my money away if I bid on it. Am I just dreaming or can someone else see how off center this card is? Vladdy PSA 10 RC REF -ebay

helionaut

There are PSA 10 cards and there are cards that are actually Gem Mint, and the two sets do not wholly overlap. The t/b centering on these cards is always tough for some reason, but I'd keep looking, especially since it's bid up over $1100 now.

goodriddance189

centering is 50/50. t/b centering is measured on the top where the top of the name is, and on the bottom where the blue bar begins

psavlad

Goodriddance189-- no that's not what measures the centering on this set. If you look closely there is a 'floating' inside boarder that consists of vertical lines that stop about 1/4inch from the top/bottom/sides. I've done 3 of these Refractor sets and am very familiar with the issue. What I can't figure out is why I have a PSA 9oc with better centering. A PSA 9oc is basically a PSA 7, not a 10. I think you might be onto something, you're right it would be 50/50 if it was graded on those parameters. I think the grader must not have been familiar with the set (I believe all the 10's were graded a while ago) and thought the centering was based on that criteria. Anyone else have a suggestion?

Browntoni

That is clearly a PSA 10.

psavlad

Browntoni, explain to me why then... , I'm not knocking PSA in anyway, we are all here because PSA is the best grading and authentication company in the world. I'm just saying for this particular example I don't believe a PSA grade of 10 was warranted based on their own criteria of grading and previous examples. That's only my opinion and I have stated reasons why I believe that. With the MILLIONS of cards PSA grades they are bound to make a mistake somewhere. ... maybe here. The card is clearly at best 75/25 Top to Bottom. The edges and corners look beautiful, but even a Gem Mint card with off centering is to be give a PSA 9oc. I have conferred with 3 top collectors who have expressed the same concern. I'm honestly just kind of disapointed to see it. I'll have to wait for the next one to go up for auction! I don't mean to post a 'negative' thread, I hate it when people do that, I just wanted to hear what you guys think. I believe the Set Registry will revolutionize the hobby and all of you were smart enough to get on in the beginning, hence I trust you would all have valuable input.

qualitycards

PSAVLAD - Its hard to determine if its oc since it is a borderless card. Show us a scan of your oc card so we can get a grasp of this cards nuanaces, and we can compare the 2. With that said, if your card is centered better, by all means re-submit it...jay

iamthegreatcornholio

Here's a BGS 9.5 Bowman's Best

T/B on this looks a lot higher than the refractor if that's what you're trying to say.

The seller of the refractor, gotbaseballcards-com, is the local baseball card shop in my town - 10 minutes from my house. They are a great bunch of guys.

Brian

highend

my son collects the new stuff and he has the vlad in a psa 8 and judging from the scan his looks better but without the card in hand you really can't be sure.
i've often wondered about the nuances of grading these kinds of cards (chrome) sometimes i'll send cards in for him and often have no idea what to expect. i usually loop the corners and make sure there are no finger prints on the surface and off they go.

psavlad

Qualitycards-- see the pic of the BGS Cornholio listed, it's not the refractor, but shows regular centering.

Cornhollio-- the seller of this auction is actually selling it as a commission sale, I've had a few emails back and forth with him and he's been excellent. If you look at his feedback it doesn't get any better, 23,000+ all 99.9%. I would definately trust him.

psavlad

Vlad PSA 9oc Refractor

Here's a PSA 9oc that I found at auction, mine has better centering but this will show that this PSA 9oc is also equivalent to the 10.

Qualitycards-- in this case it's not my card that's undergraded, I've seen probably 1/2 the PSA 9oc that have better centering than the PSA 10. I now believe that the card must have been graded using the top of the name and bottom of the blue strip as was mentioned in a previous post. PSA definately doesn't grade them that way anymore, so that's a relief. Thanks for the reply.

Aknot

OK that 10 is NOT a 10. (well in my humble opinion) Why you may ask? Well I would think when Topps produced the card they wanted the name of the player and the team centered at the top. If you count the refractor lines you get 5 (counting the "edge" of the card as 1) on the right starting with the first one touching the S. You have 7 on the left starting with the V.

Even (just eyeballing) the Bowman logo at the bottom you can see it favors the right.

BUT

If you were to "cut" the card more on the left to center the the above mentioned "defects" you would come close to cutting Vladdys hands.

Question is would this be considered a "print" defect? Because of the Name at the top? Well what about the Bowman logo?

I find it hard to believe you could find a TRUE 10. I think it was a "layout" error.

Am I nuts?

SoFLPhillyFan

I believe the printing of the player image and the foil stamping and embossing of the name and Bowman logo are two different processes performed on different in line machines.

It is possible to have the player image centered, but not the additional "signatures" or "imprints".

I see the foil stamp on the 10 as off center to the right as much as 1/8", maybe a little less. It's possible that this could go up almost as much too.