Question about corners

calaban7

I'm getting ready to submit an order to the card GODS and was wondering if they takeoff for corner tuffs. I have a small pile of great looking cards that I believe might get an easy 9 if not 10. All the corners are real sharp with very little if any chipping on any of the edges. the only problem is some has 1 or 2 little tuffs in the corner, I guess from when the blades started getting dull or something.
ANY help here from past experiences would be greatly appreciated. thank you for this forum as its a great tool, SONNY

digicat

Mixed bag, even in the same submission.

One card (1982 Topps Football) was flawless under 10x mag, except for the "tuft." I thought they'd ignore the tuft and give a 10. Nope. Got a PSA 8. In the same submission, a card (1985 Topps football) with a little less "tuft" got a PSA 9 (9 was the "expected" grade). I guess what happens is that if the grader looks at the corner and the tuft looks like wear w/o magnification, they'll dock it on the grounds of eye appeal.

Send em in and see what you get.

mosaic

From my own experience, any defects at all, if they're evident under 10x magnification, will drop you from a 10 to a 9 right off the bat.

If the corners just seem to reflect the light wrong or have a soft cut, you'll probably get a 9 if the rest of the card is gem. I have a few Donruss Rookies and Updates cards that got 8's and 9's due to the effect being shrinkwrapped had on the cards.

If the cards have a colored border and you see any white at all, that's usually 8 territory... although some graders are more generous.

Chipping will land you an 8, at best, probably. Depends on how severe.

Don't forget that PSA also takes centering into account, especially in instances where the card has a shot at a 10. You might submit a card that's not off-center enough to get the OC mark, but if it's still noticeably off-center it's more apt to get a 9.

Of course, as people will tell you, some of PSA's graders are stricter than others. Look over your cards when you get them back, and if you really disagree, you can always "crack and re-submit" in hope of a less-strict grader looking the card over.