Master Set Handcut Grading Problems

Harf20

I am putting together the Hank Aaron Master Set. I recently sent in about 40-45 cards off the master set composition list for grading. These included some VERY NICE handcut cards from Post Cereal, Hostess and Nabisco for Aaron. According to the set compositions and the Population Report, these cards are graded as any other would be. I expected these 6 cards to each have a PSA 6 or better and one of the cards I was sure would be a PSA 8/9. I received these 6 cards back this week and ALL 6 were only "AUTHENTICATED"--NO GRADE WAS GIVEN ON ANY OF THEM. I now have 6 handcut cards that are in NrMt or better shape, with cut lines present, ideal cards for grading-->NO GRADES. Needless to say, I was not happy. Any ideas why these cards would NOT be graded, and even better, anyone to contact about this problem?

Thanks
Harf

firedawg45

weird they they would not grade if the lines are present. do you have scans? they have been real bad with hand cut cards. i sent in a 69 rose nabsico and a 68 bazooka rose. the bazooka was sweet and nabisco was a 4or 5 i thought, they both got a 6

also have for sale 1970 action cartridge hand aaron psa 8 just back from psa, this card will be added to the master set and there only 3 graded and 1 higher, pm me offers

Aaronman

Harf,

Do you have some scans you can put up?

262Runner

Keep in mind that the "cut Lines" or border must be present on all four sides without breaks or miscuts. When I first started my 1963 post set, LINK, I made the mistake several times of sending cards that had just a touch of the border missing. I would like to see somes scans of your Aarons.

Dave

JMDVM

I sent in some Post football about 6 weeks ago. My grades were all over the map. Cards that were cut uneven, but still OUTSIDE the black borders(i.e. 4 solid black lines present) got lower grades than cards that were cut square but right down on the border,or in some cases INSIDE the border. Not one card came back authentic, but I got several "Miscuts". From what I saw, even if all 4 black borders were present, it did not guarantee a high grade. How much does eye appeal play in the grade? How much variance is there from grader to grader? I am only sending a few cards at a time in case I get a grader who is overly tough.

K

What technique is the best for hand cutting a card? I'm trying to get a Ripken off of an 89 Topps box bottom. I practiced on the pics from the lid and other box bottoms but failed miserably. I tried scissors first which gave the worst results. Then I went to a ruler with an exacto knife but still slipped up a bunch, mostly with the blade catching the ruler and then miscutting on the surface.

I really don't want to ruin this one particular example because it is in great condition, which I know would grade high if I could get it cut right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TheVon

The best success for hand cutting cards seems to be with professional grade paper cutters but I've heard many people say that they just use a regular office paper cutter for stuff like this. I've used them myself with mixed results. If the paper cutter isn't very sharp it seems like a lot of the stiffer cards (like box bottoms) can get bent close to the cut.

QUITCRAB

K-I am an art/photo HS teacher-a roto trim is awesome for cutting and so is a Logan mat cutter-I would cut any card with anything else-they are expensive but the quality of the cut is unbelievable-K---do you have a Conigliaro 68 action sticker? PM me if you need one Scott

KRAHTE

For Hostess cards I believe you pretty much need 100% of the dotted lines showing. These cards are beginning to accumulate in the registry much much more than a year or two ago so the graders are seeing a lot more of these cards. I submitted one card once that didnt have 100% of the dotted lines and it received a 4 otherwise all the hostess cards I have submit and bought had 100% of the dotted line and they are all anywhere from psa-5 to psa-10. Basically you want to have a nice cut with all of the dotted lines showing on each side and the cut should be the same/similar on all 4 sides. [I use a semi cheap guillotine cutter because I learned my lesson after my first submission of these cards where the best I received was a '6' because I was then using a scissors.]
If you wait long enough and are patient, both the 75 and 76 Hostess Aarons appear on ebay and they can be picked up in both psa-9 and psa-10 but I dont know what they go for nowadays.

I have about 25-30 Nabisco cards and I have noticed because of their low population and relative low interest within the hobby that the grading of these can be pretty wide and all over the place. I have seen cards with full 100% dotted line borders showing receive a 4, 5 or 6. But also I have seen them receive and 8 (which is the highest grade yet to be received by a nabisco card - of the only about 150 submitted only about 20 of them are eights). Probably 1/6th of the registry is graded authentic. I have one player from the nabisco set that I thought the cards were almost exact with the amount of dotted line showing which was about 80% and one of them received a '6' whereas the other one received an 'Authentic'.
As for Hank Aaron specifically there was recently a psa-8 in a heritage auction that is pretty sweet and you can see it within the set-registry. This one is not mine, and it shows a pretty fine example of what a psa-8 is.
I also have both a thin border version of the aaron and a wide border version of the aaron, which both are in the psa-registry. Right now the picture is up for the psa-7 thin border and soon I will have the picture up for the psa-6 wide border. [I have two different sets up on the registry for this small set.] My pics are with a camera and I suck with using a camera - [ still need to get a scanner one of these years] - but you can get an idea of what the dotted line borders should look like. Neither of them have 100% dotted line border but they are close.
With Nabisco's your best bet for sure is to find a card with as close to 100% dotted lines as possible or at least having some dotted line border percentage on each of the 4 sides. If one of the sides is completely missing all of its dotted lines or the majority of it on one side is missing the dotted line then more then likely the card will receive and 'authentic'

I would also be interested to see the scans of the hostess and nabisco cards that you have.

redlegs

Here are some of my hand-cut Hostess and Bazooka cards as examples of what PSA is looking for in regards to higher grades.

firedawg45

awesome rose panel. is it for sale?

firedawg45

question on the 69 nabisco. are both the wide and small border cards gonna be required for the master sets.. i just got my rose wide border today psa 6 i got, thought that was good..

redlegs

<< <i>awesome rose panel. is it for sale? >>



Sorry but the Hostess panels aren't for sale as they are both part of a 1975 Hostess panel set that I am building.
Thanks for your interest.

Phil

KRAHTE

>question on the 69 nabisco. are both the wide and small border cards gonna be required for the master sets.. i just got my rose wide border today psa 6 i >got, thought that was good..

Your good, only one is needed.

rich

firedawg45

thanks

Harf20

Thanks for the responses. Sorry, went out of town for a few days, will have scans/photos in today for your review.
Harf

Harf20

Here are the photos. Each of the Hostess cards had at least 1 edge completely missing the dashed line so I did not include them. Thanks for you responses
Harf

Harf20

Sorry.

CDsNuts

Those aren't even close. You need to have the WHOLE border showing, or PSA treats them as trimmed cards.

Edit: By border, I mean the outline of the card.

CDsNuts

Here's a Nabisco with the whole border:



Here's yours:




See the difference?