just to make a point of all the fake stamp charizards we’ve seen, they have mostly been on psa 3-5 quality shadowless charizards. my graded one was a psa 4. the process is the same, so if I wanted to I could have just swapped that fake psa 4 one into an authentic grade without a problem.
to get a grade the card needs to be authenticated anyway, so it isn’t like getting an authentic grade would somehow make your card more safe
Authentic makes sense for Trophy cards or anything with a handful of copies awarded. Especially the older trophies. Literally woke up to a message from that UK scumbag attempting to pass those fakes as real…
Charizard 1st Ed base has an established value down to 3 at this point. Therefor there is an incentive to grade.
For any non-trophy or 1st ed zards, it doesn’t make as much market sense to Authenticate only, but it ultimately is a personal preference.
Why even then though?
The only reasons I can find in my head why someone may do this are what I laid out which just don’t make sense to me. I am not trying to say your statement in wrong because I do agree it makes sense to authenticate and encapsulate a card of such high value. So taking your statement alone I agree. But when you take into account that someone is actually going a bit out of their way to hide the opinion of expert graders I just tend to think that getting the grade put on it makes so much more sense (to the point that authentic only makes no sense to me) since it requires no extra time, effort, or cost and is a completely free outside opinion on your cards condition by the markets leading experts.
personal preference doesn’t mean that it makes sense though. I could prefer to take a shower in my clothes but that doesn’t make it make sense.
I love almost everyone here on the forum, but I gotta say I’m with gottaeketchumall in that it is the same cost, I don’t see why you WOULDN’T get a grade unless it is some form of anxiety over looking at the number or trying to hide the actual condition
you can prefer whatever you want, but I still think if you are spending the money you should get the grade as well
edit: seems I responded to a message that was deleted 
the phantom message
We do not fully agree and we don’t have to, but we probably agree more than you think. I haven’t even stated my own position in this thread. I just don’t think anyone has satisfactorily argued the position that there “isn’t ever a good enough reason to authenticate only any card”. There is nothing wrong with this as a personal choice but in your earlier posts you shared this sentiment as fact and even took shots at people who do like the authentic cards. That’s what prompted my post.
If someone likes the authentic label over a PSA 1-5 for and they are willing to pay for the shipping and grading costs, is that not a good enough reason to do it? Do they have to have a broken ego or some psychological condition to do this? Speaking of which…
You’ve failed to address my next point which I wrote because I anticipated a response like this:
“Also even if I were to agree that the motive of collecting authentic cards was all ego and ocd tendencies, is that not what drives the entire collecting market as a whole? Why is it okay to have an ego about some things but not others?”
We can sit here all day assuming the collecting intentions of this strawman individual who really likes authentic cards but this is not productive. I wouldn’t say thinking that “authentic” is more aesthetically pleasing that “3” is the equivalent of being “triggered”. Some people just might like the cards and the PSA cases and not want the condition to be the focus of the card. To me, you might as well be sitting here saying that all binder collections should have all their flaws circled and highlighted and everyone who doesn’t do this is egotistical and they are not able to truly enjoy the cards like me, who circles and points out all the flaws in my binder sets.
I think your last point is most salient, people have their own preferences and can do whatever they want. No method of collecting is objectively “better” than another because everyone has different aesthetics and goals.
The principle of “buy the card not the grade” is that PSA grades are only an approximation and to buy a card you are satisfied with independent of what the grade says. Saying there’s no reason to grade authentic only suggests that the value of the card is from the frade, not the actual cardboard themselves. These ideals are contradicting, and while it may not be a full dichotomy as I cheekily suggested originally, in principle these ideas are very conflicting.
As for your argument here Reina, I will point you to the idea of circling all the flaws in your binder collection. Certainly it’s the ideal way of collecting otherwise you’re hiding the condition from yourself an others. If you didn’t do this, it’s the same cards but with less information attached.
Overall, I understand the value of having a grade on a card even if it’s a 2. But in the end, it’s a personal choice about aesthetics. If someone likes the look of the authentic, that’s all the reason you need to grade as authentic. I have yet to see an argument here that justifies the statement “there’s no reason to grade as authentic” that doesn’t also throw out the idea of an ungraded card with it.
But if we keep arguing the same point, we’ll just keep going in circles. Here’s a new question. I have a card with some neat-looking factory damage that makes it unique and neat collector item. Other than this factory error, it’s a mint card. I want the safety and professional look of a PSA case. Do I grade it at a 3-5 or grade it as authentic? This is not hypothetical, I have this exact card sitting at PSA right now.
I understand where you’re coming from. And I get that to you, having a psa 1 or a psa 2 is better than having an authentic. Which is fine and probably the popular opinion. But for some people, having certain cards just authenticated is the best route.
Personally I don’t collect anything under a 7.
And I would 100% rather have an “authentic” grade instead of a psa 2 grade.
But to counter your personal preference argument, who are you to dictate what stances or preferences other people take? There is no right or wrong answer because that’s what personal preference is.
I’ve had this blastoise since I was a kid. It’s beat to shit and has stains and a crease on the back. Along with scratching on the holo. The front of the card looks significantly better than the back. So IMO if this were to get graded, it would grade a 3-5.
At that point at such a low grade I’d 100% rather have this card authenticated.
It’s not part of a set, I don’t specifically collect blastoises, it’s just one of those cards I’d like to have encapsulated and kept safe.
Short answer: It doesn’t matter if it makes sense to you or not, it’s not your card.
Arguing if it hides a grade is only relevant IF sold. I used trophy cards as an example, since majority of the “Authentic Only” designations are personal. I have graded multiple for collectors, and none have hit the market in the past 10 years.
For the cards that do hit the market, it still isn’t a big deal. Why would I assume an ungraded card is Mint? The same goes for an Authentic only copy. There is nothing misleading about Authentic only, as long as the seller isn’t claiming potential condition.
Either way it is an option at PSA for a reason; there are plenty of collectibles that make sense for that category. I own a baseball card from 1887, the grade doesn’t matter whatsoever on a lot of historic pieces. I also had a kangaskhan trophy that had the faintest corner crease, even more subtle than masaki’s, so I Authenticated Only because I didn’t feel comfortable if PSA missed the crease.
I already addressed one major reason why it would be stupid to get an authentic card in many situations. as someone who buys low graded cards frequently you can get very good prices. sometimes under the cost of even just grading a card. this has nothing to do with ego, and I don’t mind ego either way.
this is completely ignoring the fact that personal preference, while the end all be all of an individual’s collection, is still a terrible point of argument for pretty much anything. an individual can prefer anything. a collector could want only cards that are ripped in half. it’s irrelevant. you are getting less for the money you pay. there isn’t any way around that. you can like what you are getting more, but that is not an argument that would convince me to ever embrace authentic graded cards.
edit: obviously I don’t think anyone is arguing what someone ELSE should do with their collections. I thought the whole point of the thread was to talk about your personal opinion on the matter.
Lot’s of people have the opinion that low graded cards look better as authentic. I do not think that, and I know I am in the minority, which is why I have voiced the opinion.
collecting is all about personal preference to begin with, but that does nothing to explain why you like something. it doesn’t really say anything.
what @ssjc said is completely valid, and with the story I understand why with that card they feel it is more enjoyable to them to own it in authentic. I still disagree, I have a psa 4 error dark dragonite that is a very similar situation and I prefer knowing just how beat up it’s gotten. but I can still respect disagreement.
I think people are more caught up on trying to convince instead of just saying what their own personal feelings are
Can I just say I appreciate the pretty much 50/50 split of options here and the fun debate that this has stirred 
Your original argument was against buying authentic cards, which actually I think is a fair point. What’s the argument against grading your own ungraded cards as authentic?
very simply you are getting less for the same price. if PSA would include some sort of note for you of what they believe the grade is and just don’t mark it on the case then I think you would at least be getting the same value as a consumer
Well, that was more of an oversight on PSA’s part. In similarity (awful comparison but…) they had graded many fake Yu-Gi-Oh cards as well. The point is that humans will live and learn from mistakes. At this time, PSA knows everything about Sports cards but eventually they’ll do the same with non-sports cards (to the point of perfection) in the future. Also consider future tech, which may help combat fraud/fakes stuff also.
Why not add something like “Date of Verification / Authentication: 1/1/2025” on the back or front of label or add it on their public cert web page? I think that’d be a good indicator of telling when PSA had learnt from mistakes.
P.S I wasn’t just talking about high end cards, just in general. Counterfeiters also produce med-lower-end fakes to lessen the risks of getting caught or banned.
I’ve had a couple smaller collectors (none of which have posted on this thread) tell me that they love the Authentic concept for certain sets / cards / conditions… It’s a great alternative for some and probably only appeals to a handful of collectors.
I see that some high end collectors are appalled at the authentic idea and think it holds no purpose.
Which is fine and i’m sure many people agree with you.
But turning the idea of the entire authentic concept away because of reasons like this is IMO extremely sad and pretty negative.
“But when you take into account that someone is actually going a bit out of their way to hide the opinion of expert graders”
“Do you really need to protect yourself from seeing a low grade that badly? Maybe get a better card then.”
“Don’t try to hide it and don’t try to fool anyone… even yourself.”
“There is still no reason to authenticate over grading regardless, because all it can accomplish is to hide the grade from yourself and others.”
“if your card is a PSA 4, there is no hiding that. Might as well have it verified as whatever grade it is rather than having it authenticated and pretending like it might get a higher grade.”
-@reinasierpe
Just to add further to my point @smpratte I think authentic only has an inherent problem comparing to raw as the card becomes encapsulated and therefore condition becomes objectively harder to grade. We have been talking a lot about opinion and subjective matters, but that is again an objective emotionless fact. You just cannot judge condition of a card nearly as well when encased in it’s plastic tomb. You just can’t always tell exactly what they case may be hiding on an edge and is that a hair or a dirt spec or a ink stain etc. If however I see that card is a PSA 6 inside it’s tomb I can make some better judgements and assumptions about what I am looking at. That is a point I was trying to make before that I probably failed at doing so. It is honorable of you to take your position on a corner crease-d trohpy kang but an unscrupulous seller may try and move that same authentic trophy kang to an unsuspecting buyer as a potentially mint sample. I think arguing for going the authentic only route on the basis that PSA could miss it is weak personally and not a strong argument against just putting their grade on that slab.
@pfm I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.
“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” -Joseph Joubert
Something that is not claiming a condition cannot be misleading for claiming a condition.
dunno if you saw the addition to my post earlier but I don’t think anyone here disrespects your opinion or anything. I think especially with the context you gave and the fact that you enjoy your card more because of it, it is great.
even so I’m not a high end collector and I prefer the grades myself. just keeps things clearer for me.
one thing that does piss me off about the authentic grade like I said earlier though is that it is the same price as a grader giving it the grade. either make it a little cheaper, or include a note about what the grader thought the grade was (with a legal disclaimer that it is not an official grade to shoo away any problems that might arise) so that you are getting the same amount for your money.
There is still no reason that YOU are aware or approve of, is what you should have said.
Your stance is uncharacteristically presumptive.
Both BGS and PSA have offered an ‘Authentic Only’ option for over a decade. The people who utilize that service have their own reasons which shouldn’t be invalidated or questioned by anyone.
Do you get my point?
…smpratte
Lol
Whew I had no idea something as cut and dry as authentication could be so polarizing. Perhaps, just maybe, among countless other possible reasons, some collectors are just satisfied knowing their rare and old collectible is viewed as authentic by a respected 3rd party, which by extension makes it more recognized by others in the hobby as authentic. To call the authentication-only designation stupid implies that some of you believe authentication only has value with a grade. Do some of you also believe that authenticated autographed cards are only worth giving a damn about if the autographs are graded as well? Jeez.
My earliest post probably came across as harsher than I meant it to be (as @ssjc outlined), but I do agree here this is what matters the most and I recognize that. PSA offers both services and we all choose to do which we prefer and none of them are inherently wrong. We (in the general sense, not just me and you) definitely may disagree here on which is optimal or the (subjectively) “better” option, but at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter though it is certainly interesting to debate and hear the other viewpoints on all of it. I just really think authenticating only is suboptimal.
Every card will be sold or change hands some day whether we like to admit it or not. These plastic encased pieces of cardboard shall outlive us all. I mentioned before that encapsulation objectively obscures the ability to see all of a cards imperfections. The only people who can properly see are those at PSA before it goes into the case. (in b4 pokesyn mentions his plan to be entombed with his pristinidge master set of all cards ever created)
It is something I would never do and it definitely could be used in instances to try and obscure potential issues a card may have. If I were in the market to buy this card for example it is just such a more difficult process from the onset than if the original submitter just didn’t go out of their way to opt for that “authentic only” designation. Even if it were in my hands I couldn’t properly scrutinize it for what it is.