My first poppage - better keep my day job.....

MilehighHOF

I started collecting primarily Topps and Bowman HOFers about a year ago. For Christmas some family members signed me up for CC......here are my 15 voucher results with some comments after them:

19989019 EXCELLENT-MINT 6 1962 TOPPS 320 HANK AARON Card - what I expected.
19989020 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1964 TOPPS 50 MICKEY MANTLE Card - what I expected.
19989021 EXCELLENT 5 1957 TOPPS 20 HANK AARON Card - what I expected.
19989022 EXCELLENT 5 1957 TOPPS 1 TED WILLIAMS Card - disappointed with this grade. Think centering killed me here.
19989023 EXCELLENT 5 1957 TOPPS 10 WILLIE MAYS Card - disappointed with this grade. I really thought this one might be a 7.
19989024 EXCELLENT-MINT 6 1956 TOPPS 31 HANK AARON WHITE BACK Card - what I expected.
19989025 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1955 TOPPS 47 HANK AARON Card - what I expected.
19989026 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1954 TOPPS 20 WARREN SPAHN Card - what I expected.
19989027 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1954 TOPPS 1 TED WILLIAMS Card - disappointed with this one....thought it might pull a 5.
19989028 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1954 TOPPS 250 TED WILLIAMS Card - very disappointed with this grade. Thought it would easily be a 5-5.5. I am anxious to take a real good look at this one when it arrives in the mail.
19989029 EXCELLENT 5 1954 BOWMAN 177 WHITEY FORD Card - I paid too much for this one.
19989030 EXCELLENT 5 1955 TOPPS 50 JACKIE ROBINSON Card - thought this would be in the 6-7 range, but overall happy because I paid PSA 4 price for it. Think centering might be the issue.
19989031 NEAR MINT 7 1969 TOPPS 100 HANK AARON Card - happy with this one. Got it pretty cheap.
19989119 POOR 1 1932 SANELLA MARGARINE BABE RUTH TYPE 2-SANELLA AT BOTTOM Card - completely confused how this got a 1. Called PSA and they are doing a courtesy review for me. I thought it would be at least a 4.
19989120 N0: AUTHENTIC 1932 SANELLA MARGARINE BABE RUTH TYPE 2-SANELLA AT BOTTOM Card - what I expected.

So there you go. I have another 50-70 cards I was planning on sending in on one of the monthly specials, but I now think I need to take a closer look at all of those before deciding which ones to send in. Couple of lessons learned:

1. I should keep my day job because I am a lot better at that than I am at judging raw cards.
2. All three Williams cards were purchased off ebay from sellers with really good feedback and with 10s of thousands of sales. So I guess the lesson is that even sellers like that may describe a card to be a lot better than it really is. For all three cards, I really studied the pictures as much as I could before bidding, but apparently I missed something.
3. I think going forward I will focus on buying already graded cards.....especially for the $100+ cards. Then at least I will not be overly surprised at what I am getting.

Hallco

19989119 POOR 1 1932 SANELLA MARGARINE BABE RUTH TYPE 2-SANELLA AT BOTTOM Card - completely confused how this got a 1. Called PSA and they are doing a courtesy review for me. I thought it would be at least a 4.

Maybe a pinhole?

CubsFan41

A lot of people have similar stories about their first sub. Post scans and ask for opinions here first. Also, there is a photo grade section on the PSA
website that can show you examples of different grades. You'll get better with practice.

dmurphy3mvp

<< <i>I should keep my day job because I am a lot better at that than I am at judging raw cards. >>



Even those of us who have done this for a living our entire lives still have a difficult time judging raw cards.

fiveniner

<< <i>I started collecting primarily Topps and Bowman HOFers about a year ago. For Christmas some family members signed me up for CC......here are my 15 voucher results with some comments after them:

19989019 EXCELLENT-MINT 6 1962 TOPPS 320 HANK AARON Card - what I expected.
19989020 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1964 TOPPS 50 MICKEY MANTLE Card - what I expected.
19989021 EXCELLENT 5 1957 TOPPS 20 HANK AARON Card - what I expected.
19989022 EXCELLENT 5 1957 TOPPS 1 TED WILLIAMS Card - disappointed with this grade. Think centering killed me here.
19989023 EXCELLENT 5 1957 TOPPS 10 WILLIE MAYS Card - disappointed with this grade. I really thought this one might be a 7.
19989024 EXCELLENT-MINT 6 1956 TOPPS 31 HANK AARON WHITE BACK Card - what I expected.
19989025 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1955 TOPPS 47 HANK AARON Card - what I expected.
19989026 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1954 TOPPS 20 WARREN SPAHN Card - what I expected.
19989027 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1954 TOPPS 1 TED WILLIAMS Card - disappointed with this one....thought it might pull a 5.
19989028 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1954 TOPPS 250 TED WILLIAMS Card - very disappointed with this grade. Thought it would easily be a 5-5.5. I am anxious to take a real good look at this one when it arrives in the mail.
19989029 EXCELLENT 5 1954 BOWMAN 177 WHITEY FORD Card - I paid too much for this one.
19989030 EXCELLENT 5 1955 TOPPS 50 JACKIE ROBINSON Card - thought this would be in the 6-7 range, but overall happy because I paid PSA 4 price for it. Think centering might be the issue.
19989031 NEAR MINT 7 1969 TOPPS 100 HANK AARON Card - happy with this one. Got it pretty cheap.
19989119 POOR 1 1932 SANELLA MARGARINE BABE RUTH TYPE 2-SANELLA AT BOTTOM Card - completely confused how this got a 1. Called PSA and they are doing a courtesy review for me. I thought it would be at least a 4.
19989120 N0: AUTHENTIC 1932 SANELLA MARGARINE BABE RUTH TYPE 2-SANELLA AT BOTTOM Card - what I expected.

So there you go. I have another 50-70 cards I was planning on sending in on one of the monthly specials, but I now think I need to take a closer look at all of those before deciding which ones to send in. Couple of lessons learned:

1. I should keep my day job because I am a lot better at that than I am at judging raw cards.
2. All three Williams cards were purchased off ebay from sellers with really good feedback and with 10s of thousands of sales. So I guess the lesson is that even sellers like that may describe a card to be a lot better than it really is. For all three cards, I really studied the pictures as much as I could before bidding, but apparently I missed something. I think going forward I will focus on buying already graded cards.....especially for the $100+ cards. Then at least I will not be overly surprised at what I am getting. >>


I would be quite satisfied with those grades considering the vintage.We are so used to seeing more modern cards 70s and later come up with 7 and 8s or higher its normal to be disapointed with mid grades or lower on older cards.They are very difficult to grade.

gemint

You did quite well if you got within one grade of what you expected on your first submission. Many first time submitters are shocked their cards got 4s instead of the 8s or 9s they expected. Even with experienced submitters, the grading variability is enough that makes it impossible to accurately predict how the grader will deem a particular card. Heck, they don't even agree amongst each other.

WeekendHacker

And, yes, there is such a thing as the grader of death. By all accounts, you probably did better than the average first-timer. Grading is like most other things, you'll get better at it the more you do it. I still am not comfortable grading raw cards so to try and do it with an ebay scan - it can be that much tougher. Good luck with the rest of your subs!!

JohnnyD

I cringe when I see the cards I sent in for grading my first time. What was I thinking? You will get better....

swartz1

at least you know the Sanella was not trimmed...

Bosox1976

Not too shabby..... hope the next one works out better (they usually do).

Now for your first crack and resubmit.....

thehallmark

Start buying some cards in 6/7/8/9/10 in the sets that you are collecting. Once you have those graded cards right in front of you, it will become much clearer to you how to properly evaluate potential grades of your cards.

Also, buy a loupe. I think you'll be amazed to see what some of those edges/corners look like up close.

JoeBanzai

Definitely buy a loupe if you don't have one. I would also suggest a clean, well lit area to examine cards. You MIGHT not be good at grading from home, but you might be better than you think.

Don't be too hard on yourself. This is a job for these people, and some graders are much worse than others. I have two cards in hand that were submitted as wrong backs, fronts are pretty well graded, both got 8's (one should be an 8.5), but no mention of cards being wrongbacks despite me noting it on submission form. So the entire back is a different card # and player, but that gets missed? Oops.

I have a couple of other very valuable cards (to me) that have gone from being returned as ungradeable to a 5 and an 8 the second time around!

I think we, as collectors cherish our collectibles, and if they are to be sold are hoping/needing for accurate grades to make money. The graders at PSA might not feel so strongly about it.

PSA, while being far from perfect, is the best when dealing with cards from the 50's and 60's. Just be prepared to resubmit a percentage of every sub.

Joe