the 0xxx-2xxx makes it hard to see the Cards. Often the Case is damaged. I would make no Difference between certs if the Owner would resend it for a new Case since as european its a lot of effort to recase them
I think that survivorship bias also plays a part. People are more likely to flip freshly graded cards independent of condition. Over time, it’s probably more likely that people will sell or replace their weaker copies.
The end result is that the cards on the market with older certs generally are in weaker condition.
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The worst range of certs have a starting number of 1 through 9
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I didn’t know you were a 0 cert collector
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Now you know my secret slab collection. Gary graded over half my collection 
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I’ve seen ugly 2,4,6 cert slabs and I have a few beautiful 1 cert slabs. I think the obsession with cert # gets overblown, the exception being high end 10s
I’ll happily take a discount on an auction that has less interest because of the cert number. If it’s a nice card i could care less.
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I have a few 2xxx certs that are weak. The biggest thing I tend to notice is centering between newer and older certs. Plenty of people can cite even new certs with issues, but that’s one difference I tend to notice. Most 2xxx and under certs are perfectly fine.
For me I think it comes down to the slab style for me, usually the Cert # indicates whether it’s their newer “lighthouse” style cases (which I prefer). And that’s typically around 4XXXXXXX, unless someone had their old Cert slab reholdered of course. I typically just stay away from the 2XXXXXXX slabs and lower because the old case/label is ugly to me. And I need my slabs to look the same hehe
my question is what happened to 3xx certs? was no one grading pokemon cards during this time? these are the true certs that deserve a premium
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Right? Must have been an unpopular time or something. I’ve only seen like 3 Pokémon cards with a 3XXXXXXX cert. It’s so odd
PSA did not use 3xxx for regular grading submissions [at least for pokemon]. Maybe they are being reserved for something
I actually just consigned a rare 3 cert 
If someone were to give me a random psa 9/10 slab, id take a newer cert over an older cert blindly. card hasnt been in the slab as long and personally, i do feel like psa has gotten stricter.
I don’t have the longevity with collecting yet, or have I seen as many cards as most everyone here, but as I’m building my collection, I am not focusing on the cert numbers or labels at all… I am purely going for the cards/value. Perhaps as my collection grows and there’s a combo of old/new labels, I’ll pay to re-slab as I agree with fourthstartcg about the new slabs being superior. Plus it would help my OCD with having the same new labels.
Coop13 brings up good point. I’ve noticed with my older certs I’ve seen less consistency with condition as it correlates to the grade. For instance, I have a 4 cert “weaker” Umbreon Skyridge H30 in a PSA 9 with a holo scratching plus one deeper scratch through one ear, but have a 2 cert Blaines Charizard 1st Ed holo with similar holo scratching in a PSA 6… but everything else is very minty. Definitly need to regrade that one, especially when next to a 4 cert unlimited in a PSA 6, the condition is much better with the 1st ed 6 as the unlimited has a fair amount of whitening on the back.
Apologies for the poor scans… after trying a ton of settings, I landed on the thread about CIS vs CCD scanners. Pretty obvious which type I have… adding that to the list of collecting needs now 
I am a firm believer that “strong” and “weak” grades can be found in any cert number. This is why it is so important for the buyer to carefully review the card before purchasing. 
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I agree with this as well, there’s good and bad in all certs. I just bought a 1xxx cert 1st Ed 9 Espeon from neo discovery and it’s beautiful. It was dirt cheap and cleaner than some of my 6xxx cert 9s
The premium 5 and 6 certs have is laughable
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Most have estimated that the premium is marginal at a population-level, but I’ve seen some wacky auctions of 30%+ where the only difference was a newer cert.
I think there is no way to properly assess a card’s condition when you buy online. Especially the surface and holo is impossible to assess from pictures/videos, as it is dependent on the camera, angle, light source etc.! So either you make all purchases in person, or at some point you just have to accept the grade irrespective of the condition.
This is made even more difficult by most sellers responding the following if you ask about the card’s condition: “It is a grade 9. Look up the definition of a 9 on PSA’s website. Buy it or leave it. Thanks.”
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I agree that surface dents/creases will be impossible to see on most listings, but those will (almost) never be present in PSA 9s and 10s anyway. PSA’s SecureScan imaging service now provides a pretty great assessment of surface scratching and print lines on most cards if you look up the cert number (better for vintage, modern is tough). Unfortunately, this is limited to the very new certs around 65XXXXXX+ or slightly older 6XXXXXXX certs that were express graded. PWCC takes phenomenal scans that provide a pretty good understanding of surface scratching as well.
TL;DR: I feel confident in my ability to assess a card’s condition when I buy online as long as the seller has half of a brain. Obviously, there is always some level of trust that must be put in the company’s grade.
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Certs starting with 4 (or having multiple 4s) are bad luck, obviously.