4 Sharp Corners Elite - What do you guys think?
Yankees70
Posts: 651 ✭✭✭✭
Is this a good thing for the hobby? I'm interested in your opinions.
Introducing 4 Sharp Corners Elite
Any card receiving a 4 Sharp Corners Elite designation will be a visually stunning example that immediately suggests the card may be undergraded. While a 4 Sharp Corners Elite card will be superior in most respects to other cards of similar assigned grade, there will be a particular focus on centering with each example displaying centering characteristics that would qualify it for at least one grade higher than the assigned grade (with the exception of gem mint examples). The 4 Sharp Corners Elite designation is not available for purchase and will be granted only at the discretion of the experts of 4 Sharp Corners based on decades of experience and millions of cards handled.
Each 4 Sharp Corners Elite card will have a unique, non-transferable holographic sticker affixed with a certification number that can be verified in the search bar below. Each card can also be verified by scanning the QR code on the holographic sticker with a mobile device.
4 Sharp Corners six-digit Elite ID can be found on the sticker on the back of the card.
Comments
Buh buh buh 4SC submissions are never under graded... Sounds like their plan to gets 10 money for 8s and 9s...
Perhaps good 4 them but for hobby mid to long term yet another way way to reduce quantity new blood
My verdict BAD!
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
PWCC did this on their auctions too. Can't remember what they called them but they'd throw that on cards to get extra $$.
Seems good for 4SC, but not sure how it helps the buyer. With how grading is these days...
I thought PWCC did a good job of recognizing cards that exceeded eye appeal for the assigned grade.
this has been done before.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I’d prefer they not do it, as I feel I can assess cards that are nice for the grade myself and would rather not have more attention called to them.
Looks like a way to promote submissions to the TPG. Wonder how their opinion jives with a TPG opinion. Do you submit the card denoting 4SC opinion. Do you crack out and resubmit?
We have PWCC/Fanatics, Now 4SC, Mike Baker - PSA has gotten so bad that there is a whole industry of people grading the grader.
What you'd be doing essentially, is buying into the opinions given by a company which is already recognized for their ability to get high grade and highly desirable cards into holders. They can enhance what is obvious by adding a denotation about specific features that make it "better" than other similar examples. Translation: We're really, really good at this and the shiny label means we're even more good. Spend accordingly.
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I like the concept of a grader of graders. Assuming they could do so impartially and consistently.
I see it as a hint. The grade is a hint and a little sticker saying it’s above average is a hint. Hints are good, but I think as long as we’re not blindly trusting the hints they can be useful.
Reminds me of the sellers on eBay who list cards as 'undergraded'.
I just did an eBay search of 'PSA undergraded' and it returned 635 items. I then tried 'PSA overgraded' and actually got one hit, which was one more than I was expecting.
I hope they someday make a braille sticker option.
Based on current grading standards I think you could probably apply the 'Overgraded' label to anything graded before 2022!
LOOKS NICER!
Just another money grab within a hobby that is strewn with them.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Like a mail-order bride.
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Thanks for your opinions guys.
If only there was a concept where individual aspects of the card (like corners, edges, centering, and surface) received a grade in addition to the overall grade. They could call it “subgrades” or something like that. Then there would be little reason to grade the grade.
Or, if only there was a half grade designation where the upper 50% of cards at a certain grade level received a half grade bump (8.5 instead of 8 for example). Then there would be little reason to grade the grade.
Seem like nowadays half grades are not used to reward cards that present well but are used to penalize many submitters.
Dropping cards that are by the book 9s or 10s to 8.5 crushes the spirit and wallet. If a seller has that occur enough it can also crush their livelyhood. Might as well consign raw to Greg Morris
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not to mention only about 5% of cards PSA grades gets a half grade.
This, my man. I've probably subbed my last order to PSA. I have one or two there now that was in the 80s special but when they're done, I'm done.
What finished it for me was a bunch that I sent in on that special that were previously Min Size. Like in the past, I resent hoping for a different grader and to get them graded. This time EVERY one came back as Evidence of Trimming, and I know they weren't trimmed because I opened the boxes myself. They did charge me for each one this time. At least now I know and will not bother with them again.
4SC putting attempting to add value to their PSA 9's that should be PSA 8's is amusing
Stickers are really really really cheap. In bulk by 4SC they can be purchased for mere fraction of a cent each. Now in at least some cases 4SC may very well find total rubes to pay hundred$ extra if they simply stick one on a slab.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
I do not know if SC received favorable grades from PSA. Once…I bought a 1965 Joe Morgan RC PSA-8.5 from SC…submitted it to PSA for review…and received a bump to a PSA-9. I still have the card…
This type of service has become well accepted with coins, with CAC stickering PCGS and NGC slabs. However, I believe that CAC focuses on surfaces and originality, which may not be apparent in photographs. We can all see if a card is centered, but if the sticker verified things that are hard to see in low quality seller images (like color, print registration and surface flaws), then it might be useful.
I should also add that CAC offers to buy stickered coins at its buy price and the opinion is that of a well known individual. I don't think this is the model used by 4SC, so results may vary!
4sc just appears to get favorable treatment because they do so much volume anytime we see an over-graded example we get the pitchforks out and cry havoc.
But the truth is that PSA is just that inconsistent.
I’m sure 4sc gets plenty of unfavorable grades. Anyone who’s in operations can chime in here and explain the many reasons why PSA wouldn’t be able to effectively manage a program to provide grade bumps to a large submitter. Long gone are the days when 4sc mattered to PSA’s revenue. Long ago when these big guys had their own graders and cert ranges and could bend PSA to their will… perhaps. Today? Get real.
Preferential treatment is easy automation from tech perspective. A few if then statements and a simple algorithm.
I'm not saying whether it's done or not, but one of the tenants of great business is to keep your largest customers/clients happy. At very minimum that always needs to factor into a conversation.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
I think you overestimate how much business 4sc does with PSA. If they submitted more than 10,000 cards a month I would be surprised. I think the time of them being a significant portion of PSA’s revenue is long gone.
My opinion is based on what believe is most likely.
The favorable treatment argument requires a large scale conspiracy and people talk. Keep in mind that PSA wouldn’t be incentivized to do this unless this was a demand from 4sc either. Keeping everyone quiet on both sides, and implementing a buff for “favorite customer” just seems like a bridge too far. I’ll admit there’s always a possibility but only because people behave erratically.
This exactly.
It took years of arguing but RR is correct, it has been well accepted.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.