What to look for when grading 1986 Topps Baseball

lightningboy

I opened a rack box of 1986 Topps baseball and pulled about 50 cards to the side that, on first glance, appear to have a shot at a PSA 10. I've never really submitted modern cards other than the occasional big rookie cards. Other than the centering which is obviously the biggest issue with these cards, what should I be looking for that might lower the grade. The corners all look solid, as do the edges. I just don't want to submit 25 cards and have 20+ come back as 8 or 9. I'll check pop reports to make sure even a 10 is worth grading, but other than that I'm not sure how to weed out the cards not worthy of the grading fee. Any help/experiences would be most appreciated. thanks, Tom

Boopotts

<< <i> I just don't want to submit 25 cards and have 20+ come back as 8 or 9. >>



This is exactly what's going to happen, no matter how much time you spend scrutinizing the cards. And even if you manage to corral fifteen PSA 10 commons out of 25 you're looking at probably $70-$100 in profit; and that's the best case scenario.

Don't screw around with grading 1986 Topps commons; you're just exposing yourself to a headache. If you want some grading excitement by up a few batches of Luck and Griffin RCs on Ebay and try your hand with those.

76collector

I have a few cases of 86 racks and decided to rip one recently. Here is a link to the thread I started, you should be able to find some good info. in there. (hopefully the link works)

link to my 86 rack case rip

Anyway,

I would agree with the comment above that its not worth it to submit 86 commons for grading. Basically if you don't get a 10 it is a complete waste of your money. Also, as you know this set is really tough to hit 10's with because of the centering, black top border, and terrible printing. Check for print dots on the cards and don't submit those either if you are looking for 10's. I would suggest only submitting the hall of famers that have a big following, like Henderson, Ripken, Rose, N. Ryan, Brett. If you hit a 10 in any of them it will cover the grading fees for the others, and you can probably get your grading fees back if you hit 9's. I certainly don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but here are the results of my submission which was the best 12 of these players in the case. I think I got 6-10 of each card and submitted the top 3. I didn't get a single 10.

1 1 21235546 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 1 PETE ROSE Card
1 2 21235547 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 1 PETE ROSE Card
1 3 21235548 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1986 TOPPS 1 PETE ROSE Card
2 1 21235549 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1986 TOPPS 500 RICKEY HENDERSON Card
2 2 21235550 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 500 RICKEY HENDERSON Card
3 1 21235551 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 100 NOLAN RYAN Card
3 2 21235552 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 100 NOLAN RYAN Card
3 3 21235553 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 100 NOLAN RYAN Card
4 1 21235554 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 340 CAL RIPKEN JR. Card
4 2 21235555 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 340 CAL RIPKEN JR. Card
4 3 21235556 MINT 9 1986 TOPPS 340 CAL RIPKEN JR. Card
5 1 21235557 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1986 TOPPS 690 RYNE SANDBERG Card

lightningboy

Someone has to have some success stories with grading these, right?

ThoseBackPages

Yes, but it takes many years to learn, plus a lot of luck to score 10s on that issue.

bbuckner22

Give them to Pristine Paper and let them sub them for you

CubsKiller99

Piggybacking on a 4SC submission is your best bet.

RynoandBo

One rack box of 1986 Topps might get you 2 or 3 PSA 10's. Do not sub in large quantities.

If you get past the centering and the edges and the corners and the tilt, you still need to address the biggest issue:

surface

Surface on the 1986 is huge. Often, images are blurry or "mushy" if you will. The black needs a certain degree of gloss, the images cannot have snow, and the images should be crisp. Very hard.

Sub your very best Sandbergs, Nolan Ryan, Mattingly, Clemens, Puckett, ect....Those in a 9 will get your fees back plus maybe a little.

DetroitSquirreL

4sharpcorners has a bunch of psa 10 listed that are ending soon, i think their prices are a bit high thats why they arent selling...I think subbing only stars is the way to go

ldferg

Centering, no chipping in the black portions of the border, no soft corners on the white border. Look for no fraying on the corners and surface dimples. There used to be a guy that would pay out the wazoo for the 86 Mets team players. I don't know if he is still active.

Good luck. I think there is only one person to have completed this set and I'm not sure if he is still upgrading. There doesn't appear to be much demand for commons. I've got a Guerrero all-star submitted for estang that should 9 or 10.

Key cards in PSA 10: Sandberg, Ryan, Ripken, Brett, Puckett, Gwynn, Molitor, and Henderson.

MiniDuff

I am six boxes into an 86 vending case break and am going to submit ZERO cards so far. It might take me a while to build up the energy to finish the case break. What is worse, and no one mentions this, ripping 86 is an express route to a migraine with the alternating sequencing.
Look up, look down, look up, look down. Very hard on the eyes and brain. Not an enjoyable rip at all, and take that as coming from someone who rips several cases a month.

Boopotts

<< <i>Centering, no chipping in the black portions of the border, no soft corners on the white border. Look for no fraying on the corners and surface dimples. There used to be a guy that would pay out the wazoo for the 86 Mets team players. I don't know if he is still active.

Good luck. I think there is only one person to have completed this set and I'm not sure if he is still upgrading. There doesn't appear to be much demand for commons. I've got a Guerrero all-star submitted for estang that should 9 or 10.

Key cards in PSA 10: Sandberg, Ryan, Ripken, Brett, Puckett, Gwynn, Molitor, and Henderson. >>



Great post by Dave- the OP should find this very helpful. WRT to the keys I would probably include Dawson and Sutton, but that's really about the extent of it.

olb31

i sent in a joyner 86 tt tiffany and got a 7. I would have bet the whole order it was at minimum a 9 and prob a 10. i have only graded about 3000 or so cards, so i must need to grade about another 10,000 or so until i know the difference between a 7 and a 9. I believe certain years are graded certain ways. I have no luck with 1985 or 1986 fb or bb. basically most 80's cards are worthless so i guess by overgrading like crazy, they might derive some value 50 years from now, i think that is real reason.

ldferg

<< <i>I am six boxes into an 86 vending case break and am going to submit ZERO cards so far. It might take me a while to build up the energy to finish the case break. What is worse, and no one mentions this, ripping 86 is an express route to a migraine with the alternating sequencing.
Look up, look down, look up, look down. Very hard on the eyes and brain. Not an enjoyable rip at all, and take that as coming from someone who rips several cases a month. >>



Duff,
I've never had any luck with 86 vending. I've only busted 2 cases, but have never pulled a GEM from vending. Stop while you're ahead.

lightningboy

I am six boxes into an 86 vending case break and am going to submit ZERO cards so far

What is your biggest issue so far? Centering? Corners?

ldferg

<< <i>
What is your biggest issue so far? Centering? Corners? >>



My experience with vending on the 86s is there was never a clean black edge on the border. Cards appear rough or chipped.

GB5HOF

I've subbed roughly 40 1986's Topps from racks....All HOFers and low pop commons. Out of those 40...3 came back 10's. About 25 9's...and the rest were 8's. The three 10's sold for an average of about $75 each. The 9's and 8's commons are almost impossible to give away. The HOFers in a 9 seem to go from about $10-$15.

The biggest issue is left to right centering in my opinion. I recently opened about 80 racks and set aside maybe 70 cards that were perfectly centered. From that point I flip over the card and check the back centering...I was then left with about half the original stack. Then I go to the top corners on the black...the stack goes in half again...and I'm down to about 17 cards...then the problem is the the photo quality/register/print marks/surface bumps, etc...that leaves me with about 10 cards I send in with the though that they could all be 10's...I'll be lucky if 1-2 come back a 10.

As other have stated above...its a labor of love. Lot of work that you are lucky to break even on.

Not to spam...but here's a like to an auction I have up for some perfectly centered 9's and 8's commons...my guess is I won't even get a bid. I'm just trying to get rid of them at this point...I've tried selling them individually with no luck.






1986 lot

jbox

I think this set in high grade will be highly desired at some point (maybe decades). This set is right in the wheel house of the card boom and is a common memory amongst many collectors. The condition sensitivity and large number of HOFers adds to it. If only there was at least one big rookie in that set. There is something really special about a high grade '86 with high gloss and clean edges, a real thing of beauty.

jbox

JHS5120

I've never bothered with 1986 Topps.

If you submit 50 cards, the absolute best case scenario is that 10 of them grade 10 and the rest grade 9. You'll make you're money back on the 9's and you might make $25-50 each on the 10's. So, in other words, the best case scenario is bringing in about $250-500 profit on a 50 card submission..

Now, to get 50 "pristine" cards from 1986 Topps requires 2 rack cases (which will run you $250), the patience of a freaking rock and about 10 hours of time.. all to essentially break even.

The worst case scenario is that you buy the two cases, open the rack packs, spend the time, submit 50 cards and get 12 9's, 31 8's, 2 PSA 9 PD's and 5 EOT's.. It's not worth the headache.

totallyradd

<< <i>

<< <i>
Key cards in PSA 10: Sandberg, Ryan, Ripken, Brett, Puckett, Gwynn, Molitor, and Henderson. >>



would probably include Dawson and Sutton, but that's really about the extent of it. >>



Rose is a good draw too. I think you could include Cecil Fielder, Mattingly, Clemens, and Yount in that list as well. They won't fetch as much, but in 10s you can get 50-60.

I ripped three boxes of these a few weeks ago. It took me like 6 hours. I haven't ripped any 80's boxes before so I enjoyed the first two, but during the third one I just wanted to finish. I put the stars listed above on the side, then checked em and put aside the ones I thought could catch 10's. I put all those to the side and will check them again soon. I think it's better to clear your head for a week and come back to em when the excitement of ripping cards is over and you can recheck em with a different thought process and probably save some money.

I'm excited to send these in and see how they do, but am still skeptical based on 76collector's results.

I have two more boxes to open, but might leave em unopened based on what results pop.

Dodgerfanjohn

Maybe theres something about 4Sharp Corners I'm unaware of.

But it seems based on recent ebay sales that you guys are really reaching on the prices.

It seems most common 10's are around $25 BIN's and the stars are in the mid-high 30's in PSA 10 BIN.

GB5HOF

The commons I sold for around $75 each were all Pop 1's or 2's at the time. There are many high pop 10's that will only go for $25 or so.