Reasons PSA Grades/Does Not Grade Cards

bobsbbcards

Good morning,

Does anybody know whether there are hard and fast rules for whether PSA grades particular sets or does not? I have been emailing customer service (thanks Laura!) and they have been very quick and polite with their responses, but when it turns out that PSA will not grade cards, I am still puzzled as to why?

Examples:

They used to grade 1967 Topps Test Stickers but discontinued doing it in 2002 (2 currently graded).
They do not grade 1990 Donruss Aqueous Test cards (SGC does).
They do grade 1967 Topps Stand Ups proof cards (cut from sheets, 2 currently graded).
They do grade 1970 and 1972 Topps Cloth Stickers (again, all have been cut from sheets at one time or another). No 70 Cloth have ever been graded, but some 72 Cloth have.

My thoughts are that since PSA did not grade hand cut cards for a long time, and there is still some reluctance to grade cards that were never officially issued (sheets came out, people cut them up). Cards like 1972 Topps Cloth Stickers have been in the "main stream" for a while, and it's easier for people to pretend that they are not hand cut.

Thoughts? I am sure that player set collectors go through issues like this all the time (Bazooka, Food issues, Topps Nestles, etc).

Bob

mikeschmidt

Bob - I have all of the 1984 Nestle Schmidt cards graded - although they stopped grading those 4-5 years ago. Since all collectors should reasonably know that they were cut from sheets (e.g. not issued any other way) - i don't see a problem with the cards being graded.

Best-
ms

bobsbbcards

ms,

Thanks for the info. The 84 Nestles Nolan is/was not part of the NRMS, so I was not sure if PSA was still grading these. I agree that if the only way to get a card was to cut it from a sheet, then PSA should grade it (and mark Hand Cut if necessary). If a card was obtainable, from the factory, as a single card, then PSA should not grade sheet cut versions. This seems like it would satisfy collector's of oddball, unissued sets without turning PSA into a BGS who regularly grades sheet cut cards.

Bob

gregm13

I recently saw two 1959 Bazooka football cards that were graded by PSA as authentic and then labeled "hand cut". What is wrong w/ this grading approach? It seems to satisfy everyone's needs - unless the person wants an actual grade on the card.

Regards,

Greg M.

mikeschmidt

PSA actually grades many different kinds of hand cut cards with a number on them. Just do a search on Ebay for some Hostess baseball graded examples. An "Authentic" designation usually means that someone cut within the lines. But PSA, overall, seems to have a somewhat inconsistent approach to their grading of hand-cut cards, and which ones they do and do not grade - and even what the grading criteria is...

ms

bobsbbcards

<< <i>I recently saw two 1959 Bazooka football cards that were graded by PSA as authentic and then labeled "hand cut". What is wrong w/ this grading approach? It seems to satisfy everyone's needs - unless the person wants an actual grade on the card.

Regards,

Greg M. >>


Greg,

I think the grading approach PSA uses with Bazooka (especially 59s) is exactly right. Since 1959 Bazookas can only be graded by PSA after some level of cutting, they are marked HAND CUT with a grade if the border is totally intact, or marked HAND CUT and AUTHENTIC if border missing. If PSA had larger slabs, then entire boxes and/or panels could be graded (but that's another issue).

For cards that have no clearly defined border (Topps Cloth for instance), the size should reasonably approximate the standard size of the card (average of all of the cards on the sheet). PSA should again use HAND CUT for items like this and assign a grade. If the card is too small after cutting, then PSA can always resort to "Does not mean minimum size requirements." or again use AUTHENTIC.

Again, as MS says, there does not seem to be a consistant approach across all card sets. If PSA is willing to use HAND CUT and AUTHENTIC when appropriate, then all cards within a certain size range should be able to be graded. No exceptions.

Bob