"Lifting Corners"

Joegyst

Hello,

New here and need some help.

Been collecting for some time now and submitted some cards to PSA that I thought were in ok condition. One was a 1958 Topps football card.

Anyway the grade came back way lower than I thought and when I called the lady was nice enough to go speak with the "head grader" and he said the card had three corners that were "slightly lifted". Thus it can't be above a 4.5 according to the head grader.

I haven't got the card back in the mail yet but I was wondering if anyone has some examples of what a slightly lifted corner might look like?

I'm guessing they mean the cardboard is separating but I don't see how I would've missed that.

Thanks

Joe

secretstash

Could be crimped corners, where the front shows sharp and the back has a slight fold over (minor crease on tip).

Joegyst

Thanks. I guess I didn't think slight imperfections like that on the back would degrade the grade so much. Aesthetically it's almost nothing. Seems like something that should be addressed on the site or facing guidelines.

Appreciate the input.

travis t

Bent corners do downgrade particularly if they show light angular cracking on the surface of the card or appear dog-eared. This will keep the card at a maximum of a PSA 6 in most cases and then reduce the grade depending on wear. If your '58 Topps FB card might be a Jimmy Brown Rookie, it would likely receive greater scrutiny and perhaps tougher grading as well.

divecchia

I would agree, once you have dinged or lifted corners, in this case 3 you would not likely get better than a PSA 5.

A piece of advice, don't get discouraged. You will get better at determining what a card is likely to grade once you learn what to look for. It takes many years of experience to get the grade you expect from a card and even after many years of experience most of the time the card will still likely come back a lower grade than expected, but much closer to what you expect.

Good luck with you future grades and your collection.

Donato

Joegyst

Thanks again for the feedback. What made this tough was that the front of the card looked amazing. The corners were pretty sharp. The folding or lifting was on the back and not what I would consider a fatal flaw. I'll post pics and the notes the head grader sent. I really do appreciate that they at least did that. I was going to resubmit right away without checking mo qualifiers because I assumed the only way the card was a 4.5 was because of s qualifier. They saved me some money there.

Joegyst

Here are the lifting corners. Closely magnified. Love to hear your thoughts. Corners are great on the front. These lifting corners resulted in automatic 4.5.

Dand522612

That first picure of that back and that corner probably kept it at 4.5. Do you have a scan of the front?

originalisbest

Yep, the wear at the corners helps explain the grade. That doesn't mean it can't be a very nice example for the grade. People seem to be appreciating that more nowadays.

originalisbest

One thing that might also help in understanding slight imperfections, and their effect on overall grade level, is to look at plenty of PSA 6, 7, 8 and 9 images, ideally of examples from the same given set, that have oversized photos. You'll begin to get a sense for the differences.

Joegyst

I actually did look around at other examples. Here is mine and one of the sharpest PSA 7s on eBay. Pictures don't tell it all but they look pretty similar. At least not three grades apart. What kills me is I have another PSA 4 and it truly looks like a 4.

Dand522612

Does this look like your four?

Joegyst

Yes, that's similar to my four.

OAKESY25

looks accurately graded

Unknown

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secretstash

@CrissCriss said:
That would be what you would call "corner wear".

Agreed. Pretty standard. Lifting corner to me is when the front is sharp as ever on the corners and the back has a slight folded over corner "crease". That is what I thought immediately dropped him to a 4.5 but now seeing the card I think the grade is right because every corner has real wear..if only 2 or 3 were done less prominent I could imagine a PSA 6 at the top end.

Joegyst

Here's the front of the card I was referring to in the original post. This doesn't seem to have advanced corner wear in my opinion. I've talked to the PSA people and they were actually nice enough to discuss the card with me. However, now the reason it got a 4.5 was not the lifting corners, it was the small corner crease at the bottom right side.

travis t

I'm certain several well educated folks in this hobby would consider that example to be "high end" for the grade. Consider yourself the proud owner of an accurately graded HOF'er a centering freak like me would covet. Nice job.

Dand522612

That's a really nice 4.5. Looks better than a lot of same 5-6 that I have seen. Another example of buy the card and not the holder. It is however, accurately graded

divecchia

I agree, it is a very nice looking card that would not be out of place in a 5 or 6 holder.

Congrats on a nice card.

Donato

JBrules

Nice looking card for the grade. Agree with Donato it would look right at home in a 5 or 6 holder.