For signed cards, how much does condition matter?

With the reemergence of signed cards lately, I’m curious how much does a card’s condition matter to you? Particularly those authenticated and slabbed.

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For me, the value of a slabbed signature is having the card authenticated more than anything. I can’t imagine paying a significant amount more for a “pristine” signed card when technically it is already damaged with ink.

That being said, I may be in the minority because a mint vintage card with a signature is surely more difficult to acquire than a damaged one.

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Thanks for sharing! Great points.

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When it comes down to it, it’s really your preference on what aligns with your goals. Are you selling or are you keeping?

If you’re selling, you’d think they would want the best copy they can find. It just allures the buyer to want to buy it more if it’s pristine.

But these days, that way of thinking may not even matter with signatures being all the rage right now, and still could be something that we may not even get in the future if people don’t behave. At that point it wouldn’t matter card condition. More on do you have it or not, and, who is it?

For someone like me that has zero intention on selling mine; my intention will always be mint, but have no regrets with anything new mint. As long as the card is in good condition, I’m happy.

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Fully agree the value to me is in the autograph and to a lesser degree what it is on.

Say I wanted an Arita signed Charizard.

Id pay more for one with a sketch but would only pay marginally more for a mint vs near mint one.

Id prefer a damaged copy of a rare card signed over a mint common and would definitely not want to pay for a gem mint card with the autograph on it especially as that scales up.

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In my opinion, as long as the card presents well I don’t care too much about condition. For the Saitou signing I took cards that ranged anywhere from PSA 5 due to minor creases to PSA 9/10 condition. Regardless of condition, they all had a clean front with good centering and looked great.

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For me there’re only 4 types of signed card,

  1. PSA 10 AUTO 10
  2. PSA 10, AUTO Auth
  3. PSA <=9 Auto 10 (anything below including PSA 9 are the same, but with an AUTO 10)
  4. the rest (both Card and AUTO are graded below 9, including AUTH)
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If I collected signed cards the condition of the card wouldn’t matter that much to me. Or, at least the things I would look for would be different.

To me the condition of the card would only add significant value beyond the signature if it truly was exceptional condition, and if it was a truly rare card even without a signature.

In general though, I think for me it might be only the first glance eye appeal that would matter. I may care a little more about holo scratches, and much less about whitening on the back.

A signed card is very much about celebrating the artwork, not the entire card itself. Maybe that’s why the front could matter more. Just my opinion though.

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For me, like @fourthstartcg said, as long as the front of the card looks good i’ll take it.

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My opinion is that people in this hobby have a really twisted relationship with respect to condition, generally speaking.

Yes, no one wants a card with a crease or that has edges worn down. But once you move past that to the different levels of “mint” you are playing a different game. It’s really not about condition anymore but instead just a way to say “my card is better than yours”. That’s why as you go from mint to gem mint to pristine to perfect/black label, the actual difference in condition shrinks to nothing but the premium on the grade starts to explode. Because it’s not actually about condition, just a way to put your massed produced card on a higher level than everyone else’s copy. This is the mostly unspoken reality of collecting graded cards in this hobby. And I want to say there’s nothing wrong with that way of thinking or collecting! If you want to play that game, go for it - just have the self-awareness of what you’re doing.

I realize the above might seem tangential to the question in this thread but I can’t really explain my thoughts without explaining my perspective of collecting condition in general.

So for a signed card, I would say condition does matter. More specifically, a crease or heavy edge wear would still bother me on a signed card. I would also say that condition does not matter. That is, playing the mint+ game on a signed card is just meaningless to me. First of all, you’re dealing with a card that has been written on, so it’s debatable whether it is still “mint” at all. Secondly, each signed card is it’s own unique piece, it’s no longer a massed produced item where this ladder of different levels of mint even matter anymore. The metrics of which you assess the “quality” of a signed card also change. For instance, I’d take a PSA 8 card with a really nice sketch and clean marker lines than a black label with a less nice sketch and/or marker issues.

So to summarize, yes condition matters to a point. Past that point, I think you’re just playing a weird game of one-upmanship that I’m not interested in

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It’s about eye appeal to me. If there is significant damage that detracts from the eye appeal (e.g., creases, severe scratching, clouding, etc.), then I would not want that item autographed.

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Very good points.

I do think a condition-centric collection mindset can exist outside of artificial one-upping. To a point.

For instance, personally I want most of my WOTC cards to look pack fresh. I want them to be in the condition I remember them having when pulled from packs. Purely for aesthetic reasons. Not for “mine is better than yours”.

Most English WOTC pack fresh cards are PSA 9. Yes, there will be the occasional 8s. You’ll get the 10s too, but that is more of a factory lottery game being played.

I guess that’s why I am a 9 collector for vintage. I know you are too. Maybe our reasons are similar.

Bringing this back to signed cards — I definitely would drop the “pack fresh” desire. The signature takes away the “pack fresh” vibe anyway, so PSA 7-8 condition seems perfectly fine for me for signed cards.

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It’s a spectrum. As you move up from PSA 7-8 to a black label, each step becomes less about actual condition and more about “having the best copy”. The way I see it, the difference in value between the graded card and what it would be worth cracked out of the case and sold independently of the grade is the “flex premium”. The higher the grade, the larger the difference in value becomes before and after cracking, because the actual meaningful quantifiable difference in condition becomes smaller and smaller.

I’m not here to tell people when a difference in condition is substantial enough to matter. That’s a personal choice. A random person off the street probably could not tell you why a card got a PSA 8 vs a PSA 10. When you get deep into the hobby, the difference between a 9 and a 10 might be significant enough to you.

Funnily enough, I think the condition people are satisfied with on a signed card is a good threshold of where “actual” condition stops mattering that much to them. If no grading companies existed and everyone collected in isolation (without being able to share or compare to each other) this is probably the level of condition you’d be happy with for your collection. Similar to binder collecting. But that’s not the world we live in and chasing those high grades for whatever reason you have can be a lot of fun.

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To me, a signature is only a little bit about the signature and a lot about the experience associated with it. Following the recent saga with E4 members trying to get signatures, I feel like for me, the signature on the card would sort of be the thing that encompasses that entire event and makes me remember the experience. Sure, I’d want the card to at least look good from the front and not be folded in half, but a PSA 10 does almost nothing for me in terms of making that experience and signature any better.

Side note, this is also why I have no interest in buying a signature that someone else got. It feels so artificial, like you’re buying the experience that someone else had by getting that card signed, except you weren’t there and you didn’t get it signed yourself.

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The condition matters quite a lot for me personally; to the extent I purchased PSA 9s to crack for the Saitou signing. I’ve never graded any of my signed cards and don’t plan to, but I still like knowing they are mint. A holo scratch or other defect can reduce the visual appeal and if I am waiting Lord knows how many hours in line I certainly want to get a good-looking card signed.

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I collect PSA 10s but generally agree with the above: that at that point it’s as much about the grading service, the label and the slab as much as it is about the card.

That said, NM-M (PSA 7-9) is the perfect place for signed cards for me. The ink damages the card (in my opinion) and I wouldn’t be keen to damage a “true 10 candidate”. I’d much rather elevate a card that might not mean much standing on its own (PSA 7-8 for example) with a nice signature.

Of course, I’ll always be happy to take a mintier card, but a 7-ish card is fine in this spot

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These are some fantastic thoughtful points! It’s really cool to see everyone’s takes on things. Just one more reason that E4 is the heartbeat of this hobby (at least to me).

For me, condition doesn’t matter except in cases where the card is obviously trashed. A few I’ve seen are real bad. It would have this beautiful signature and sketch but the card was a washing machine card. I’d be pleading at the screen “noo whyyyy?!? Stranger, I would’ve gladly bought you a fresh card to take to get signed”. I’m talking commons and unlimited holos that you can find all over for $10-30, not trophy cards. This was also before they were popping up left and right. There may be some that are from a childhood collection beat up and for that I totally understand.

Theres a few different answers that come to mind.

If I’m getting the card signed for my tyranitar set im after the best condition possible
If I’m getting anything from my “gift” collection signed i do not care about condition
If im getting anything signed for resale take me out back and shoot me

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I hope that this card was from childhood or something. :melting_face: