Eye-appeal vs Grade/grade weight
OnlyThe10s
Posts: 1,850
Hey all,
For once I thought I'd post something useful
I'm wondering what you all think about eye appeal vs GPA, in respect to a registry set.
Take a 3 that looks good? or get rid of it for a (let's say) 6 that looks "alright?"
For once I thought I'd post something useful
I'm wondering what you all think about eye appeal vs GPA, in respect to a registry set.
Take a 3 that looks good? or get rid of it for a (let's say) 6 that looks "alright?"
0
Comments
Re: Eye Appeal
The Importance of Eye-Appeal and Subjectivity in Grading
Over the years, more and more collectors have come to understand the basic guidelines behind PSA grading. After grading for well over a decade, PSA grading standards have truly become the official standard for the most valuable cards in the hobby. That being said, there are a host of grading questions that arise and the one basic question that comes up the most has to do with eye-appeal and centering.
While it's true that a large part of grading is objective (locating print defects, staining, surface wrinkles, measuring centering, etc.), the other component of grading is somewhat subjective. The best way to define the subjective element is to do so by posing a question: What will the market accept for this particular issue?
Again, the vast majority of grading is applied with a basic, objective standard but no one can ignore the small (yet sometimes significant) subjective element. This issue will usually arise when centering and/or eye-appeal are in question. For example, while most cards fall clearly within the centering guidelines for a particular grade, some cards fall either just within or just outside the printed centering standards. The key point to remember is that the graders reserve the right, based on the strength or weakness of the eye-appeal, to make a judgment call on the grade of a particular card.
What does this mean exactly?
Well, take this example. Let's say you have a 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax rookie card that is right on the edge of the acceptable guidelines for centering in a particular grade. The 1955 Koufax card has a yellow background that tends to blend with the border of the card. In other words, the contrast isn't great so poor centering may not be much of an eyesore - the borders are not clearly defined. In this case, if the card exhibits extremely strong characteristics in other areas (color, corners, etc.), an exception may be made to allow an otherwise slightly off-center card to fall within an unqualified grade (no OC qualifier). This is a rare occurrence but it does happen.
On the other hand, there are cards that technically fall within the printed PSA Grading Standards that may be prevented from reaching a particular, unqualified grade because the eye-appeal becomes an issue. For example, a 1957 Topps Sandy Koufax card has great contrast between the white borders and the picture because the background is very dark. It is possible that a 1957 Topps Sandy Koufax, one that technically measures for a particular grade - let's say 70/30, may be prevented from reaching that unqualified grade because the market would view that card as off-center - based on eye-appeal issues. Again, this is a rare occurrence but it does happen from time to time when a judgment call has to be made on a card that pushes the limits for centering.
In conclusion, the issues discussed do not apply to the vast majority of cards that filter through the PSA grading process each day but this is an issue that needed some clarification in the marketplace. The bottom line is that there are times when a PSA grader must make a call on a card that falls on the line between two grades and that final determination is made based on experience, eye-appeal and market acceptability.
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IF a card lacks "eye-appeal," NOBODY prefers it over a card that has "eye appeal."
yogiism
I actually posted this BEFORE THIS thread (not knowing the two would tie into eachother).
Which is a perfect example of eye appeal vs grade... this PSA 10 is a TOUGH card as far as Manny Rookies go. There's 36 10's and I've even seen one sell for a little under $100.00 before. This one seems to be within the 10 guideliens, but doesnt quite look like a great example. I passed on it for now (especially since I'm savig for the Jackie Robinson Rookie).
On a related note, someone posted a SGC Jackie Robinson 1949 Bowman card that had better eye-appeal than some 8's I've seen... but therein lies the dillemma. If I get a 5, it'll kill my GPA since the weighting on that card is a 10. Know what I mean? Can anyone speak to this?
Chris
My small collection
Want List:
'61 Topps Roy Campanella in PSA 5-7
Cardinal T206 cards
Adam Wainwright GU Jersey
You can have a PSA 10 card with a little off centering, than I have a PSA 6 or 7 with dead perfect centering and the eye appeal on everything else is fine, and I would rather have that 6 or 7, if it wasen't for the money value of a 10 of course. But if I have to chose without value, I would go with the lower grade that has better eye appeal, because thats what most people look for when displaying their cards, because I don't think people look at their cards everyday with a microscope all the time when looking at your cards, ot other people looking at your cards, you just look at them for the beauty and eye appeal mostly I think
Giovanni
And the bottom line is, I'm not trying to get to #1 on the registry, so the grade-weight shouldnt be all that important either.