How and When did you first become aware of PSA/Grading?
lightningboy
Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭
I had collected religiously from 1970 - 1990/91. Then real life happened (i.e marriage, kids, house etc) and I didnt really look at cards let alone stay active until about 1998. During this time I had continued to receive the SCD magazines. It was the summer of McGwire/Sosa and I was looking through some of the dealer buy ads and I read that one company was paying $500 for a 1983 Topps Gwynn and about $400 for the Boggs and Sandberg. I knew I had plenty of those in "perfect" condition. But I also knew them to be worth about $25 - $50 at most over the years. I had to find out why someone would be offering so much and what the number "10" meant next to the card. 20 years later and I'm glad that I continued reading those SCD's. What's your story?
Comments
My friends normally quiet, unsmiling and reserved father was uncharacteristically very excited by a pending mail delivery around 1992-1993.
When he opened the mail, it was one card:
1952 Topps #311
My first time seeing either one in person.
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
When I walked into a local news store and saw a Beckett Vintage, thumbing through it and seeing the HUGE money for a PSA 10 Common, it was the most intriguing thing and that got me to do research and I found out about PSA
mine would have been sometime during the mid 1990's. would have been an advertisement in either tuff stuff or beckett. First time i laid eyes on one would have probably been at a show around the same time.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I picked up my first PSA graded card in 1992. I think it was Oscar Robertson?
I went to the National in Atlanta that year and met Mike Baker who gave me this "sample" PSA holder. On display that year was the PSA 8 graded Wagner card.
I also met Alan Hager - ASA grading company - who patented the Arrowhead holder that PSA adopted along with his 10 point grading system. He - also - gave me a sample holder.
I saw an add in the SCD (early 90's) that someone (assume it was PSA) was willing to pay something like $10,000 for a complete PSA 10 Topps baseball set. I don't remember if it was the current year but it was for a set in the 1990-1992 range. Anyone else remember that ad?
1993 National in Chicago.
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
Saw some graded cards at the local card shop in the mall (early 90's), started sending to SGC in the late 90's at first because no fee for a collectors club, and now deal with PSA for 98% of my collection.
2004 - I had purchased a card, graded, and received an email from shouldacouldawoulda (something like this) warning me of the seller. He also directed me to the boards and I’ve been on since. I’ve been collecting since 77. Never heard of PSA until 2004.
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
1994-95? SCD adds. Had no clue what PSA 9 PD was. A guy had several cards PSA graded and wanted Big money for cards like PSA 9 1975 G. Brett Rookies. But also had PSA 9 PDs for like a 1/5 of the price. So I had to call and ask him what exactly was going on and what was PD.
4 months later I was grading my Mint cards. My first ever card with PSA was a 1970 Pete Rose PSA 9. Sold it for 800.00 in like 1998 then bought it back for 450.00 in 2005. Never sold it again.
Sweet samples Mike and Happy Thanksgiving. First PSA card I saw was a buddy of mine had a 1933 Gehrig and I asked him what the holder was for - this was mid 1990’s. First PSA purchase was a 1956 Ted Williams PSA 8 for $475 from Bruce Perry at the Chicago National in 1997. Grabbed several 1954 and 1955 Williams in PSA 8 the next two years and they tripled in value to over $5k at the time. Looking back wish I had grabbed more 52 and 56 Mantle cards plus some 86 Jordan’s in PSA 9 and 10 - believe Mantle rookie was $30-40k for a PSA 8 at the time
1998 on Shop At Home network.
Yes, that's right, Don West turned me onto graded cards. I never bought from SAH, but their show made me aware of both graded cards and eBay.
Interesting samples there, Mike. Pretty cool that you saved them all these years.
Same to you Keith and thanx!
Had a really good day and watched FB - couple that with retirement? And life doesn't get any better.
I had been trying to buy mint centered cards from ads in SCD. Can't remember what year exactly, around 1990, but cards listed as mint were often not close. Saw Alan Hagers full page ad in SCD for his grading service ASA. Called and spoke to him. He was VERY assertive, saying if I wanted my card (was looking for a 50/50 centered 1956 Killebrew in NM/MT) I would be paying "double book". He didn't have one in stock, but would get one for me.
When card finally arrived, it was perfectly centered, graded ASA 8 but would probably grade no higher than a 5 or 6. Showed it to a local card dealer who I did business with and he suggested I crack it out as the grade was laughable.
PSA started up sometime later, but I resisted buying graded cards for quite some time.
Harvey Goldfarb showed us collectors some 1959 PSA graded Parkhurst hockey cards in the early nineties at the biggest hockey card and memorabilia show just outside of Toronto,has anyone else attended these events back in the day?
Late 90’s working at a card shop in Michigan as a teen. Mint was always the top dog of raw grades so when I saw a Gem Mint 10 I literally laughed out loud and said “what a gimmick”.
Lol looks like it stuck.
In the late-1990s, after a 10 year hiatus from the hobby, I caught the bug again. The best card in my collection at the time was an '86 Fleer Michael Jordan. I was curious what it was worth, so I did some eBay searches and noticed that many of the listed '86 Jordan cards were "graded." I was familiar with graded coins, so it made sense to me. Shortly after that, I traveled to the National and had my Jordan and a handful of other cards graded. The Jordan came back a 7. I've been submitting to PSA ever since.
Saw the ads in the very early 90s SCD mags. Didn't give it much thought at the time.