My eye seems off for 1980-81 Topps basketball

jdip9

I submitted two 1980-81 Topps Basketball cards under the June special and the grades I recieved were 2 full grades below what I thought they were. One was an Erving that came back a 6, I thought it was an 8...and the other was a Magic Johnson that came back an 8 that I thought had a better than 50/50 chance at a 10, and certainly no worse than a 9.

Is there something with the 3-panel cards that I'm not taking into consideration? Has anyone else run into the same problem?

zef204

Check the centering on the reverse.

Also, I think there is potential for chipping that you could have missed due to the white borders and white cards stock.

Do you have any scans?

CDsNuts

Any sort of black ink on the front that shouldn't be there will knock you down 2 grades, even if it's only a spot. It's common on this issue.

Lee

jdip9

i'll look for those things when I get them back, and post some scans if the flaws aren't obvious to me. Since I've never been that far off with my grade expectations, I figured maybe there was something particular with the 80's Topps that I should be considering..