THE JOKE AND SCAM THAT IS PSA SPORTS CARD GRADING

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 What a concept. Give a baseball card a grade from 1-10. Encapsulate the card, protecting it from harm. Then, when selling the card to someone across the country, they will have confidence that the card is of a certifiable condition. Right? Well.....maybe...and many times not. Below, I give you two examples of the same card, a 1971 Topps High Number, Lee Maye. Now, this card is a little tougher to find in great condition than some of the other high numbers. Both cards are graded NM-MT 8. Yet, in my humble opionion, there is an entire grade that separates the two. The top one appears to have  a fair amount of "chipping" along the black border for a card that is an 8. It has a definate "touch" to the upper right corner and it's other corners are not black. More disturbing, there is a printer's line or two or scratches that show through his hat into his face on the left side of his head. These are visually distracting to the card. I will even give the benefit of the doubt that the line seen on the lower part of the card may be a human hair that fell on the card capsule. If it isnt, and is a scratch, this is even worse. In contrast, the lower card has some fairly minor white showing on it's borders and appears to have 4 sharp, dark, corners and no print lines or scratches. Yet both received an 8.  You may ask....what is the big deal? Let me tell you. This person actually had this same card in similar condition as the second card, yet, it received a 7 grade. I would say it was in better condition that the first card shown. Big deal you say again...it's only 1 level down grade. Well...lets look at the going rate for a PSA 8 Lee Maye as of late 2020: A card with that grade can expect to receive $360-440. What you say? Well what is a PSA 7 worth then? Try about $35. That is an exponential value difference for a card that is subjectively just one level lower in condition. Eye appeal is supposed to be a very important factor in grading. An 8 is supposed to be a near mint card at first inspection, but, closer inspection may reveal a touched corner or two and some other fairly minor inperfections. The top card has some eye appeal issues that should not have put this card in the 8 grade. I've seen many 7's in better or comparable conditon. Human error you say?.....after all, it's subjective. Well...the top card was issued to PSA by perhaps the largest issuing company to PSA. It's one of, if not, their biggest customer. Could that play some part in a more generous grade? I feel for the fool who values TRUE condition and pays the top dollar for a card that appears graded incorrectly to the benefit of the owner/seller. Yes...the card has the stamp of approval. It's a PSA 8 for life ...regardless. The buyer is not going to complain to PSA that it is really a 7 and have it re-graded. That would lower the value of the card, taking money out of his/her pocket. It says it's an 8. Now it is now a commodity more than it is a baseball card. That is one reason why grading is such an arbitrary farce. 

There are many scenarios in which a card could be given a lower or higher grade than it should have for nefarious and unethical reasons, besides just human error, fatigue, too quick a grading process to keep up with demand etc...... Ultimately, baseball card grading has become more than baseball card collectors' method of having a 3rd party grading service to add comfidence to a hobby. It has become it's own stock market. So, if a card should REALLY be a 7....so what? It's a stock now...not a baseball card. 



 




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