Since the 90s we always figured about a 10x difference between 9s and 10s, at least as far as high end cards were concerned. Now does that mean today that 9s are underpriced or 10s are overpriced?
I thought I was responding to a post by chopkins, not you. Same avatar.
Nothing is risk free but it’s not like someone would list 20 copies of the card and saturate the market.
There’s no reasonable or unreasonable price for a PSA 10 1st Ed. Blastoise. The card is 20 years old, the sealed boxes are selling for $80K, it’s improbable you’d grade a PSA 10 copy if you could even find one.
People like to throw around words like “cheap, undervaled, overvalued, etc.” when talking about 1st base, I don’t think that’s the appropriate way to talk about them. They’re some of the most desirable cards out there and their price point is what the market deems them to be at.
Keep in mind that PSA has never made the statement that PSA 10 cards are perfect, their grading standards even state that a PSA 10 may allow a slight printing imperfection
PSA 10s are not in a bubble. That is implying that people will all of a sudden decide that they aren’t worth it and prices will tank. There are tons of collectors who seek a perfect collection, and a 9 just wont cut it. PSA is not perfect, but it is the most consistent company out there. There is organic rarity to a 10 because of PSAs consistency. Take 1st ed. Typhlosion 17 from Neo Genesis for example. It has a massive difference in PSA 9 to PSA 10 because of its holo pattern and light background. There are 6 10s in existence so that is an organic price difference. That is not a bubble because they just aren’t on the market
Many people buy PSA labels regardless of the card inside… so 100% for those people. Some others claim to buy the card not the grade, but still largely pay attention to the grade and I would say a majority of the price is coming from that label and the security and peace of mind it gives as to the cards true condition.
Here is a thought experiment to prove it.
People don’t buy words numbers and descriptions unless they are on that label (or BGS’s) due to their reputation. I could sell a PSA 9 base 1st charizard same day for $4,000-$5,000+ I would almost guarantee it. I can 100% guarantee that cracking the cleanest $40,000 PSA 10 you could find from the case I would have a much harder time getting $4-5,000 raw for it even if I call it pristine, gem mint, 10/10 what have you even with perfect scans videos and photos from all angles. Same goes for putting that PSA 10 in a BCCG 10 case or any other lower grading company. People will need to see the card and judge it for themselves much moreso than when it’s in a PSA case.
Even if some huge bombshell thing happened at PSA and their reputation was fully tarnished and they went away overnight you would still see some amount of a premium and higher liquidity for cards in those cases over the same exact cards raw (specifically in 10 grades as sometimes weird things happen where people gamble and pay PSA 9+ prices for raw mint cards). Even with the potential things going on with BGS and black labels you’ll still see them earning premiums due to the brand.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this and am going to change my opinion a bit. I’m going to say a Blastoise in the 6000.00+ range is a solid buy (or liquid buy;).