Well, one free voucher...will this grade?

asphaltman76

I got a free voucher because the Marquard below wouldn't grade....too worn. So....will this Walter Johnson grade a 1 or am I wasting my time using the voucher on it?

Estil

In those grades, the only reason you'd want to get them graded would be if you're not sure if they're real or not. And who's the little figure looking guy stamped on the top card?

262Runner

I Would guess the Johnson would grade since it still has most of the cards original size remaining. The Marquard has just been worn down so much its no longer the proper size or even close. I am surprised they didn't at least give you an authentic grade.

asphaltman76

Well, I'm putting the set together in PSA's. The Johnson portrait doesn't come cheap. A graded PSA 1 will run about $300, and I picked this one up raw for $100. Already have a Christy Mathewson portrait in a PSA 2 and a Cy Young portrait in a PSA 1, so Johnson is the other biggie I need besides Cobb.

Unfortunately my money won't allow me to do T206's in all PSA 5's where the commons would run me $100-125 and a Johnson in a PSA 5 would be $2000-2500.


The stamp on the back of the Marquard was pretty commonly done back in those days. The collectors would routinely stamp all the cards in their own collections to signify ownership I guess.. hey, they weren't really worth anything back then so the guys didn't know they were screwing up the cards right?

scooter729

Does PSA have any rules stipulated anywhere about when they use their "authentic" grade? I know it's done for rare / valuable cards, such as a '52 Mantle, etc. But what is the cutoff? I would think a T-206 Walter Johnson should fall into that category.

I'm not sure this would get even a PSA 1 - although it has a better chance with much more of the edges showing than the Marquard.

asphaltman76

By the way...the Marquard was kind of a throw in on a deal where I picked up the Cy Young portrait for $190. Was happy it graded and I got it pretty cheap as well since a PSA 1 Young can run $300-$400. Here was the Young.

jlbsquared

If the worst thing that can happen is you spend a little time and get another voucher, I'd say send it in...

RipublicaninMass

btw GREAT PRESENTATION on that Young! As a collector trying to complete 3 pre war sets in PSA 1 and above, i would say go ahead!

CDsNuts

Why not just get it authenticated? It's obviously no higher than a 1 if it grades, so why not make sure it finds its way into a slab (assuming it's real)?

asphaltman76

CDs....

It's probably just my anal retentive nature that won't allow me to check mark "authentic" as an option for the Johnson, or any other card in the set. Same way as it is my anal retentive nature that doesn't allow me to pick up T206's in SGC holders because I have to have everything look the exact same....if I had to do it all over again I would have started the set with SGC holdered cards because I've seen many cases where they sell for cheaper. And since I don't sell off any (unless I upgrade or downgrade), I shouldn't have went with PSA in that aspect. As far as it being real, I have no doubt it's real. I've handled about 200 T206's in the past year overall...I "hope" I can distinguish real from fake at this point..now picking out cards that haven't been trimmed or recolored or something...that's different.


Republican...
Thanks for the comment on the Young. I'm really happy with it for the price I paid for it. My only concern when it arrived at the house raw was that with my luck PSA would deem it "colored" or something stupid. It definately has a dark rich green front, but then the back is also pretty bold looking. And always good to see somebody else here involved in some pre-war cards, whichever ones they may be.
I started back in cards after being married a couple years and was half-ass trying to put together a 1952 topps set, but after picking up my first T206...there was no looking back for me...I have about 60 cards now (after about a year of collecting them), and hopefully my plan will work out on being done in seven years...minus of course Mr. Wagner and Mr. Plank.

asphaltman76

well it's off to PSA for the verdict. we shall see.