I have an odd question and seriously dont know so....

illini

I am going to ask the board. I am not new to collecting but new to the grading process and graded cards. I am very curious why is that the psa cards I have seen either the card is loose in the holder or something with the case is shaking? I looked at the other companies and the card or holder didn't seem to rattle. I am wondering if it just the psa cards that I have seen do that or do they all do that? And is it the card that is shaking? Sorry to ask something like this if it is common knowledge or something but I have no idea? Thank you in advance to let me know what the deal is.........

Josh

DeutscherGeist

You will see many cards have some wiggle room in the PSA holders. That is just the way it is. Graded cards are nice because it makes online purchasing safe in that a mint card will actually be centered well with sharp corners. The definition of MINT is much more narrow with Graded cards than with raw ones, so the consumer has that advantage. The PSA holders are not the epitome of archival safe containers for cards. They do offer some protection, but its not perfect. Sure, the card wiggles inside, but only if you shake the holder, which is not a common thing to do anyway, so don't be too concerned about that harming your cards.

Some misses of the PSA holders and grading process:

-wiggle room for cards

-not vacuum sealed to keep out harmful environmental elements that could harm the cardboard

-cards are handled with gloveless hands while grading. Finger prints get on cards and then the acid within the print print residue eats away at the cardboard eventually.

-no UV protection built into the PSA holders

rube26105

yeah lol-there is a great thumprint right in the foil part of my terry bradshaw 2005 7/12 autograph,i could probavbly lift it and put it in the nation database,thats how good it is on there!
randy

MeteoriteGuy

While many PSA graded cards do have wiggle room, the corners on the cards do not touch anything so I would not worry about damage in general.

I would prefer a case that covers everything DeutscherGeist notes but I wonder how much cost difference that would be. I think they could do away with the wiggle room and add vacuum sealing at little or no extra cost.

Mark