Going to take the jump
BuckeyeHockey
Posts: 54 ✭
After just buying PSA cards over the last several years, I think I'm ready for the jump into submitting some of my raw cards for grades.
The one set that has my interest currently is 1984-85 Topps hockey which I'm working at completing in PSA 9 or above. I have a decent amount of raw cards from that year and was initially going to submit cards where there is only one PSA 9 which is already in a recorded set and no PSA 10.
Any helpful hints or things I need to look at or consider before I submit any cards. I look at the cards and they all look perfect to me!
My first thought was to submit 10 cards and see what grades I get and use that to judge additional cards.
Any help would be appreciated....Thanks
The one set that has my interest currently is 1984-85 Topps hockey which I'm working at completing in PSA 9 or above. I have a decent amount of raw cards from that year and was initially going to submit cards where there is only one PSA 9 which is already in a recorded set and no PSA 10.
Any helpful hints or things I need to look at or consider before I submit any cards. I look at the cards and they all look perfect to me!
My first thought was to submit 10 cards and see what grades I get and use that to judge additional cards.
Any help would be appreciated....Thanks
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Comments
I'm about to do the same thing as you although I haven't been collecting PSA graded cards as long as you have. I recently joined PSA so am looking forward to using my free 6 card submission. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to learn just how difficult it is for a card to be graded Gem Mint. I originally picked up 5 sets of what I'm interested in collecting (only 30 cards per set) and out of 150 cards I only felt 1 had a chance of receiving a 10. Well I'm definitely interested in getting my money's worth out of my submission so I went out to get more raw cards. I came across some auctions for tons of single players in the set, like 50 or 60 of each player. This has given me much better odds at finding quality cards and while it's going to take me a while to study all 300 of them, I think in the end I'll have 6 good candidates. How are you viewing the cards - loupe, scanner, naked eye? I'm amazed that most of the PSA 10s I see don't receive much of a premium because they really are difficult to come by... at least in my experience. Good luck to you and let us know how it turns out!
Nice to see another hockey card collector. I use a desktop light to look at my cards. I think its a 60watt bulb. I aim it on the card from about 12 inches away. What I would recommend is look at your cards and pull out the ones you want to send to PSA. After a couple of days look at the cards again and give yourself a second opinion. I do this and almost always find a card with a flaw I did not see the first time. always check centering on the back. I forget to do this alot. Lastly, rotate the card slowly in the light to check for small surface wrinkles. Good luck to ya!!
Mike
If you're looking for grades 8 and above, you definitely need a 10X loupe. The naked eye is unable to discern some of the distinctions between an 8, a 9 and a 10, especially at the corners and edges.
Good luck.
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Expect to be disappointed. Getting a calibrated eye, so that you see cards as a grader does is not an easy thing. My eye for vintage is getting pretty good, but after recently receiving back my first modern submission, I have a bit more work to do.
My best advice is study what you already have. Loupe the corners on the slabbed cards you own. Learn what the difference is on an '8" corner vs a "9" corner. Check the gloss. Measure the centering. Study what they have already done. Calibrate your eye to those cards. See if you can tell why a "7" or an "8" got what it did. It will be very helpful in looking at your own stuff.
Good Luck,
Fuzz