QUESTION FOR THE HOCKEY CARD COLLECTORS

johnny1976 · June 6, 2008 2:50AM

Hi there. I have been looking to pick up some vintage hockey cards. I have been seeing cards graded by ksa. What company is this and are they as good as psa?

Stingray · June 6, 2008 2:58AM

I am not sure about the whole story on them, but I thought think they are out of Canada, not sure if they are on par with PSA though??

jomer · June 6, 2008 3:07AM

It's widely regarded KSA grades are generally 1.5 - 2.0 +/- points under PSA grades!!

ie: KSA 7 = PSA 5

KSA 9 = PSA 7

54topps · June 6, 2008 3:30AM

IMO KSA is no more than 1 grade below PSA. They do not give qualifiers so you have to judge centering from a scan. For what its worth I recently cracked out 2 Wayne Gretzky leader cards from 1984 OPC that were KSA 9.5. 1 card came back PSA 10 the other was PSA 9.

RedHeart54 · June 6, 2008 6:50AM

I think it would be harder to resell KSA cards, especially vintage. They just don't have the name that PSA or SGC has.

eyebone · June 6, 2008 7:32AM

Not sure I agree completely with Jomer's assessment--though anything can happen with something as subjective as card grading. However, it is safe to assume that KSA is generally more lenient than is PSA. Typically a KSA 7 = PSA 6, for instance.

Rumours abound about trimmed cards being graded by KSA.

Eyebone

NickM · June 6, 2008 8:10AM

KSA is a special case among "off-brand" grading companies. They have a lot of legitimate material in their holders, and they appear to try to do a good job, but they're just not as good as the major grading companies (more trimmed/altered cards slip through, and they miss more flaws). Because of the costs involved in international shipment, KSA is the grader of choice for a significant number of Canadian collectors (and used to be the grader of choice for most).
Look at the pictures of the card carefully.

Nick

raym8 · June 6, 2008 11:28PM

It should also be noted that KSA will grade sheet cut cards, and if you try to cross them over, they will get rejected from PSA

Mrcardsniper · June 7, 2008 12:15AM

I bought some 1968 OPC KSA cards from EBAY a few years ago. they were all KSA 8.5's and 9's. My thought was crossing them over to PSA. When I recieved them in the mail and looked them over very close. I decied to sell them again and only keeped two of the 9's for my sets. Most of the 8.5's would most likely recieve PSA 7's or a 8.0 if I was lucky. The backs of the cards were off center quite a bit more that psa would allow. One of the cards had the back printing off center and tilted as well. I would still buy KSA cards but would want to see scans of the front and BACK of the card before I buy again. I would also agree with the 1-1.5 drop in grade for a crossover to PSA.

QUESTION FOR THE HOCKEY CARD COLLECTORS

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