Determining "Grade-able" cards

canttakeitnomore

I am curious how y'all "Pre-Grade" the cards you send to PSA (or GAI, SGC, etc.) . You know, making sure that you are sending in all "GEM MINT" cards and not just VG-EX '77 Topps commons.

I have one of those real fancy flashlight looking "think-a-ma-bobs" that light up and magnify to 10X. I think I paid a whopping $10 for it at The National a bunch of years ago in Atlanta.

If you do have something real nice that works, please post where it is available?

Thanks.

A761506

The best possible way to pregrade cards is using a bright desk lamp and flipping it around to look for any wrinkles, and getting a good look at each of the corners. It's also worth having a ruler that measures to the 1/64" to measure the cards to make sure they are standard size. A centering loupe can measuring the centering if it's borderline, Peak makes a very good centering loupe with a built in reticle, which can also reveal corner and/or edge wear that might not show up to the naked eye. The Peak loupe is like $80 I think. Good luck.

Boopotts

<< <i>The best possible way to pregrade cards is using a bright desk lamp and flipping it around to look for any wrinkles, and getting a good look at each of the corners. It's also worth having a ruler that measures to the 1/64" to measure the cards to make sure they are standard size. A centering loupe can measuring the centering if it's borderline, Peak makes a very good centering loupe with a built in reticle, which can also reveal corner and/or edge wear that might not show up to the naked eye. The Peak loupe is like $80 I think. Good luck. >>





You don't need a ruler that measures to the 64th of an inch. Just set the card beneath another card and see if one of them is noticably bigger then the other. If not you should be fine.

Will you occasionally get sent back cards that weren't slabbed because of 'evidence of trimming'? Yes, you will. But so what? Say you have a gorgeous '71 Pete Rose that measures 1/40th of an inch short T/B. You're still going to send that card in, since the upside is so huge.

Of course, a lot of it depends on how much time you have to dedicate to pre-grading. If you have plenty of time, and truly enjoy pre-grading, then I suppose you can get as heavy into it as you want. But if you're just looking to use your time as effectively as possible then it's silly to spend more time with your cards then the graders will spend; and all indications are that they spend somewhere around 1 minute per card.


I also think a centering loupe is unnecessary. Nobody at PSA is measuring centering, so you shouldn't be concerned with it either. As we all know the centering guidelines are arbitrary and can change based on 'eye appeal', etc. If the card looks nice, but the centering appears borderline, send it in.

Boopotts

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I when I first joined these boards two and a half years ago some guy was telling us that a great way to pre-grade was to buy a scanner, scan the cards and look at them that way. I did that, and my results were exactly the same (assuming a fair margin for error) as they were with a fifty nine cent magnifying glass. Only now I was out 200 bucks for a scanner I didn't need.

I do think some sort of magnifying device is useful IF you need cards to come back a 9, since PSA will grade down for slight paper loss on the corners of white bordered cards that may not be visible to the naked eye. If all you need is an eight or better, however, then you should be able to acheive a hit/miss ratio of 9:1 simply by eyeballing the cards closely. I think a lot of people end up buying a lot of this senseless equipment, and start spending a half hour with each card, only to get discouraged when their results are pretty much in line with those that a guy using a 'shotgun' method of pre-grading might expect.

A761506

The reason for the 1/64" ruler is so you can accurately measure the card so you can reduce sending in cards that you know are going to be rejected. PSA gives a leeway of a hair under 1/32" for most issues. If you measure a standard card and it's 3/64" short, they're going to reject it 99.9% of the time, as you would want them to do. The only way to measure for this is with a 1/64 ruler. Stacking the cards will only reveal cards that are significantly undersized, and you risk damaging the cards.

At $5-100 a pop for grading, you don't want to constantly send in cards that you can tell ahead of time will be rejected. By all means though, when the reward outweighs the risk, for instance - if you have a rather valuable card and it's borderline, send it in and let them judge it.

Boopotts

<< <i>The reason for the 1/64" ruler is so you can accurately measure the card so you can reduce sending in cards that you know are going to be rejected. PSA gives a leeway of a hair under 1/32" for most issues. If you measure a standard card and it's 3/64" short, they're going to reject it 99.9% of the time, as you would want them to do. The only way to measure for this is with a 1/64 ruler. Stacking the cards will only reveal cards that are significantly undersized, and you risk damaging the cards.

At $5-100 a pop for grading, you don't want to constantly send in cards that you can tell ahead of time will be rejected. By all means though, when the reward outweighs the risk, for instance - if you have a rather valuable card and it's borderline, send it in and let them judge it. >>




This isn't true. We've all seen PSA graded cards from presentation sets, and these cards are often visibly smaller then their 'from the pack' counterparts.

The way PSA determines if a card has been trimmed is whether the card is larger on one side then the other, since most trim jobs are uneven. Also, I've used the method I advocated in my prior post for some time and I can say with total confidence that fewer than 5% of the total number of cards I've submitted have come back with the evidence of trimming rejection. If you're not sending in otherwise mint cards that measure 2 and 29/64 inches L/R, or 3 and 29/64 inches T/B I can just about guarantee you're leaving money on the table. If the cards are worth getting graded (and by this I mean they will sell for more than the grading fee+ what the card would sell for raw) you're almost always better off sending the card in if it's this close.

larryallen73

I have a demanding job, a lovely wife, and two kids so I do not have time for a lot of pre-grading. I wait for $5 specials (if sending in '72 or newer stuff) or other PSA specials for older cards. In the meantime, while waiting for specials I go through cards to find ones to send in. I do like to work under a good desk lamp but not necessary. I don't use any loupes, rulers or any of that. Just my eyes! I check 4 corners closely, check centering front and back, tilt card to have light hit at different angle to look for surface wrinkles and then... make an arbitrary decision! I have mixed results. Let's say I send in 50 cards from the 1980's which I have been doing a lot the last year or so as I ran out of worthy older cards to send in. Only "worth it" if they come back a 9 or a 10. I will probably get 5 10's, 30+ 9's, several 8's, a few 9OC's and one 5. I throw away the OC's and the 5! I occasionally sell the 10's and the 8's (if possible). I keep the 9's. It works for me. Have fun and good luck.

canttakeitnomore

Thanks for all the help. I was really looking for a website selling magic wands that turns all cards into 10's! Guess you guys are gonna keep that one to yourselves. I already do most of the stuff mentioned in this posting (lamp, magnify, etc). Here is one for you to try... if you have one of those flashlight looking things with a 10x magnifier on it... Turn out the lights in the room and only use the light from the flashlight thing. It really brightens up the card and shows the paper loss on the corners real nice.

Thanks again!

sayheykid54

I've found that even grading lower grade cards of star and top-tier players makes them more desirable when selling on Ebay.

phreakydancin

<< <i>The way PSA determines if a card has been trimmed is whether the card is larger on one side then the other, since most trim jobs are uneven. >>

So as long as I trim my cards straight, I'm golden?

ctsoxfan

<< <i>

<< <i>The way PSA determines if a card has been trimmed is whether the card is larger on one side then the other, since most trim jobs are uneven. >>

So as long as I trim my cards straight, I'm golden? >>



Yes - just send those trimmed cards to BGS. No problems!

phreakydancin

Sweet!

Boopotts

As long as you're fairly close to 1/32 of an inch, yes. Much depends on the individual grader.

SDavid

The only cards I measure are the high dollar graded ones that I want to resubmit. In those cases, I'm measuring the card horizontally and vertically in two different spots to see if it is straight to the micrometer. Then I look for other signs of alterations, and those really depend on the issue.

If you've got a ton of vintage commons from one source, then it would probably pay to closely inspect a sample of them.

If you've got a small sample of star cards, then, shoot, if they look ok to you, send them in. If some get rejected, and they still look ok to you, send them back. You never know - they might not have been altered in the first place.