True, but a reasonable assumption when you remember that Collectors’ main goal is to make money like every company.
2 Likes
I’ll agree that we can only speculate on why the grader/supervisor decided to scrutinize the illustrator more than other cards. The fact he even mentioned it is probably not great PR for PSA as it’s not written anywhere officially that there are different standards based on the card’s notoriety and/or value (to my knowledge).
I may be on the outside looking in on my take. I would hope PSA is either taking more time to grade an illustrator and being very thorough in the grading examination then not. If I had an illustrator and went to PSA I’d hope they’d do their due diligence and have multiple people looking over the card to make sure it gets the grade it does. Same thing would apply if I submitted the highest of high end baseball, basketball, MTG, hockey, etc
5 Likes
I don’t know if I fully agree that even the grading standard is different. For example, doing a recipe that requires 2 cups of an ingredient vs a chemistry experiment that requires 473.176 ml of a substance. Both are exactly 2 cups but one you will eyeball and the other you will break out the scale for. It’s not a different standard as much as it’s a different level of attention to detail.
That said I’m sympathetic if people believe that the actual line of what makes a 10 is shifted a bit in these cases but it’s an unproven claim.
5 Likes
I just saw this thread and went aboslutely wild.
I never thought I’d be able to find someone that actually has one, and is as close as a single message away.
A dream come true.
Wait till you find out
9 Likes
find out what?
I just wanted to chime in to congratulate you! I thought several times about selling most of my collection to grab an illustrator, for sure a dream. Im not into trophy cards but even when growing up, i knew there was 1 single pokemon card being the top tier one, and thats the illustrator.
Grading wise, i honestly can’t believe you went for a random company that graded only 100K cards, i read the post and see your motives; but still, can’t understand why.
Time will tell if you’re right about the Blackberry-Apple comparison; but i truly feel that’s not the case in the collectibles grading market.
Once again, dream card 
6 Likes
If you mean finding someone with an Illustrator, there are several E4 members that have one.
I can’t comprehend this sentence rn, hold on…
Being on the fourum with some of the top collectors in the world, multiple people on here having an Illustrator is kinda expected.
3 Likes
In my opinion, the only real reason anyone sends their card to be graded is to increase its monetary value. Outside of very few edge cases, I think anyone who claims their primary reason for grading is anything other than that is lying to themselves. Therefore PSA is the clear choice in the majority of cases simply because it fetches the highest market rate. It doesn’t require a high level of experience to authenticate a card with your own eyes, and if you just wanted to preserve the card, a semi-rigid does that job perfectly well.
I have no way of objectively proving this, but I would bet the vast majority of graded cards were sent from people with this as their primary reason. Which of the three categories does that person fall into? The first or the second?
7 Likes
I think this is excessively dramatic. The majority of my graded cards I bought not with the intention to ever resell. Many I’ve graded myself too. A semi-rigid is inferior protection, not great for display, has no label, doesn’t offer an opinion on condition.
Yes, I’ve graded cards for money. Yes, many people do that. But I have to be lying to myself to think there are other reasons I enjoy collecting things for myself graded? nah
16 Likes
Unless you’re sending your cards through a washing machine I don’t agree 
I don’t think it matters.
I don’t agree, but we are dealing in the realm of opinion after all. I prefaced my post with that.
If I don’t care about how valuable the card is, these things don’t matter outside of eye appeal. No one is going to be able to tell the difference between what would be a PSA 9 and a 10 without very close inspection which wouldn’t happen if it were just sitting on a display shelf.
I acknowledge there are people who enjoy collecting graded cards. I just have a hard time believing the primary reason behind which slabs they buy or which company they send their cards to isn’t a monetary one.
1 Like
This may sound like a dumb reason, but maybe for (prolly gonna mess this up) asthetic?
It’s one thing to have stuff in a binder, but to have a set of graded cards formatted in a certain way and style is a completely other thing. The gold cards would be a great example of having a graded card asthetic, as they have similar art styles and pair nicely together.
6 Likes
The primary reason most of my cards are with PSA is that it was the only available option when I started collecting graded
1 Like
grats on the Illustrator. I remember getting back into the hobby and it was around 50k (or at least thats what I think it was at?). Cool to see how much the card has grown (along with the hobby in general)
2 Likes
My psa 9 topps grimer wanted by literally everyone is sure enjoying the massive price increase 
10 Likes
I grade cards for the following reasons:
- To increase the value of the card
- To authenticate an autograph
- To protect the card and preserve its condition
- To easily view and display
Points 2, 3, and 4 have been 90% of my submissions recently. I recognize that I am not the typical submitter who opens modern to chase 10s or buys vintage collections to grade hidden gems, but I would suspect that there are a lot of people like me on here (i.e., grading for set completion, autograph authenticating, protecting rare or nostalgic items without an intention to sell).
8 Likes