QUESTION FOR THE HOCKEY CARD COLLECTORS

johnny1976

Hi there. I have been looking to pick up some vintage hockey cards. I have been seeing cards graded by ksa. What company is this and are they as good as psa?

Stingray

I am not sure about the whole story on them, but I thought think they are out of Canada, not sure if they are on par with PSA though??

jomer

It's widely regarded KSA grades are generally 1.5 - 2.0 +/- points under PSA grades!!

ie: KSA 7 = PSA 5

KSA 9 = PSA 7

54topps

IMO KSA is no more than 1 grade below PSA. They do not give qualifiers so you have to judge centering from a scan. For what its worth I recently cracked out 2 Wayne Gretzky leader cards from 1984 OPC that were KSA 9.5. 1 card came back PSA 10 the other was PSA 9.

RedHeart54

I think it would be harder to resell KSA cards, especially vintage. They just don't have the name that PSA or SGC has.

eyebone

Not sure I agree completely with Jomer's assessment--though anything can happen with something as subjective as card grading. However, it is safe to assume that KSA is generally more lenient than is PSA. Typically a KSA 7 = PSA 6, for instance.

Rumours abound about trimmed cards being graded by KSA.

Eyebone

NickM

KSA is a special case among "off-brand" grading companies. They have a lot of legitimate material in their holders, and they appear to try to do a good job, but they're just not as good as the major grading companies (more trimmed/altered cards slip through, and they miss more flaws). Because of the costs involved in international shipment, KSA is the grader of choice for a significant number of Canadian collectors (and used to be the grader of choice for most).
Look at the pictures of the card carefully.

Nick

raym8

It should also be noted that KSA will grade sheet cut cards, and if you try to cross them over, they will get rejected from PSA

Mrcardsniper

I bought some 1968 OPC KSA cards from EBAY a few years ago. they were all KSA 8.5's and 9's. My thought was crossing them over to PSA. When I recieved them in the mail and looked them over very close. I decied to sell them again and only keeped two of the 9's for my sets. Most of the 8.5's would most likely recieve PSA 7's or a 8.0 if I was lucky. The backs of the cards were off center quite a bit more that psa would allow. One of the cards had the back printing off center and tilted as well. I would still buy KSA cards but would want to see scans of the front and BACK of the card before I buy again. I would also agree with the 1-1.5 drop in grade for a crossover to PSA.