There is something about an 8 that just doesn’t do it for me. For some reason beyond just monetary values, I find myself more inclined to jump at a 7 over an 8 for vintage items. When I see an 8, I can’t help but think “guess it didn’t hit the 9”.
It is well documented that silver medalist at the Olympics are often the most dissatisfied with the result compared with gold and bronze winners. As it relates to graded cards, if you image the 9&10 as the gold medal, 8 as silver and 7 as bronze it seems to fit. Maybe that’s a stretch, but I’m curious anyone else feel like way about 8s?
Buy the card, not the grade. If unhappy, consider cracking and starting a binder of “unsatisfactory” grade cards. That way you’ll have strong binder copies.
Remember that grading is very subjective. I’ve seen 10s that look like 8s, and 8s that look like 10s.
One mans 7 is another mans 9, depending on whether that man got laid or divorced the night before. Without grader notes, it’s impossible to know why certain grades are given.
Yes, yes I’ve been around for over a decade I’m familiar with the commandments. But it’s an inseparable fact that when collecting graded cards, you must pick a grade to buy.
For me it would depend on the price gap between 7 and 8, and how much i wanted the card. For a personal grail, i would much prefer the 8 (bigger outlay but would likely hold more value in the long run).
For something more available (or that i wanted less), i’d pick a 7.
PSA 8 can be really close to a PSA 9 since it can also be mint :
PSA 10 : Gem mint
PSA 9 : Mint
PSA 8 : Mint-Near Mint
PSA 7 : Near Mint
PSA 8 is in the same range as a PSA 9, and here’s why you might consider buying a PSA 8 instead of a PSA 9. However, a PSA 7 is much further off from a PSA 9
I still like psa 8 a lot, especially for WOTC. When a lot of issues are actually directly from a booster pack, spending 50%-150% more for a minty minty card often felt overkill to me.
I perfectly understand who thinks it as an “in-between” grade, since it’s not cheap as a Psa7 while not as investable as a psa9. Having said this, imho it still offers a good value.
In the end though you should buy the card, not the grade.
But speaking of psa7, some of them just have a minuscule ding on the edges or a rough cut on the corners, with a really high eye appeal, so nothing wrong in liking them!
When we were kids, we used to collect cardboard literally folded in half, so in comparison a slabbed NM card will always look magnificent
Same here, the only 8’s i still have are stuff i submitted myself that i dont want to sell due to them being pulled by myself or simply because i love the art. I’ll go for psa 7’s or 9’s (or 10’s) any day over 8’s. 8’s are such an inbetween grade, its not mint and not near mint, its nm-mt.
The question I always ask is what you’re getting for the difference in price. I’ve always liked 9s over 10s for old English cards because the price gap is huge and the difference in condition is small to non-existent.
When it comes to 7 vs 8, I would say 8s can often be pack fresh 7 is where you start to see real damage accumulated after production. So if it’s a choice between a card that has some damage and a “pack fresh” card, I’m willing to pay a bit of a premium for the 8.
Following the analogy, 8 is actually the bronze metal and 7 is not on the podium.
I love collecting PSA 8 personally. It’s the sweet spot for the pricier items imo. Still pack fresh/ mint, with minor flaws, but more affordable than 9/10. I agree with pfm, I find 7s are where you start to really see damage/ wear
I might cry if I see one more PSA 6 that’s absolutely flawless barring an itty bitty dent that can only be seen under the light of a solar flare during mid summer on top of a mountain range on a Thursday at 3:52 PM
Light creases are one thing, but dropping 4 points for an indent the size of a pin prick will always be crazy to me. You’ll never convince me those fringe cases aren’t just strong 9’s.
Yep I agree. The automatic 6 for even tiny indents has never made sense to me. A flawless card getting a 6 because of an indent you have to shine a light on and hold at the right angle to see but a card with whitening and holo scratches getting a 7 or 8 makes absolutely no sense. If I were buying a lower grade I’d take the small indent on a perfect card any day.
Maybe this is just copium, because if money wasn’t a barrier to entry I think just about anybody would prefer to have a 10 over a 9, but it is still funny when you think about a minor fleck or two of industrial printer ink being the difference of hundreds to thousands of dollars.
And I’d agree on the podium analogy, despite 7 being labeled as NM, the 7 to 8 jump is usually the cutoff point between LP and NM, in my opinion.
Of course if you could have anything you wanted for free you’d take the 10 over the 9. But it’s not very practical to base this logic on “assuming we have unlimited money…”
Because money is limited, you have to choose how to allocate it. And so you need to make the choice whether the cost difference between a 9 and a 10 is worth the money. For most wotc cards it never made sense to me. I’d rather have 2-20x more cards in my collection than have a smaller amount (in pretty much the same condition) but with more clout.
