If i only liked one pokemon or set id do 10s but i unfortunately like so many diffent pokemon and items and eras. Maybe if i started way back. But then again id probably have sold and done 9s anyway when i saw the price discrepancy
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Some people donât like to acknowledge we are collecting 2 things, cards and money. Even the most pure collector has to budget (collect money) to buy their next card. Point being, there is a breaking point for everyone where a PSA 10 just doesnât make sense. The milotic is one of many of those examples. Do you value or can you afford to buy and hold an item 52 times the price of a slightly lower condition version?
This is why the PSA 9 discussion re-appears so frequently, because it has an understated yet strong value. Its not on the surface in the price, but there is always a sweet spot where the price & value align more evenly, and right now that usually lands on PSA 9. This isnât limited to PSA10/9, and is true for other grades down the scale.
Of course this isnât a zero sum answer. I have plenty of 10âs in my collection. But Iâll be the first to say if the higher grade is absurdly more expensive than the next lower grade, I can very comfortably live with the extra bit of whitening. 
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I dont think grading your own cards has a big part of this convo, but I gravitate towards the 10âs I grade vs the 10âs I buy (total of 4 for the latter). I wouldnât pay up for 95% of the 10âs I grade, but oh well.
On the flip, I do have a high premium bounty out for that psa 10 deoxys. For that card, im willing to be called absurd
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Itâs not just hobbies and trading cards. Itâs also people, and all sorts of things. Wanting a thing is tied to our mental image and concept of that thing, emotions - which are often based on our imagined concept as much as the perceived or factual concept - and itâs often the case that what we think we see, is not actually there. I feel like PSA 10s are often like that girl you LOVED who turned out to be a major b&$*
I was recently reminded, though many of us already know Iâm sure, that to truly love and appreciate a thing, means that we can also be critical of it. We can be critical BECAUSE we love it, and are not fooling ourselves to only see what we WANT to see. THAT is also where we can find the variation in what people appreciate in the hobby.
LOL. Iâm watching the QA. @smpratte JUST said this exact same thing, I think Simone Weil, is who youâre referring to, Scott, though I couldnât find the â75% of realityâ quote.
But there are many quotes like this, so, Mark Twain~ âReality can be beaten with enough imagination.â
We often DO want to justify what we imagine as true to be true, than to dismiss what we hope is true PSA Mint, for what is [inside] the case.
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This. Setting a collection goal where there are zero PSA 10s increases the difficulty dramatically but also makes you appreciate just how hard it can be to get 10s for some cards.
Not all PSA 10s are created equal. Thatâs why Iâm happy to sell modern waifus that have over 1,000 PSA 10s (whilst still being in print) and happy to buy raw vintage cards where there is a chance at a PSA 10 where the pop report for that card is literally 0.
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Normally, Iâm the kinda person who wants everything I collect to be in as pristine condition as possible, but the more I collect cards, the less this seems to make sense (at least in the way it would otherwise). Truth be told, extreme financial aspects make it difficult to assess my personal feelings toward condition. Iâd prefer to have a card in better condition than worse, but beyond that, Iâm not sure how I feel about intra-mint, third-party condition ranking.
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And a lot of times, a 9 doesnât get a 10 just cuz the centering is just off enough to not get that bump in grade. So many 9âs are like that
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I havenât been following this thread very closely so apologies if this point has been made, but itâs been percolating in my mind for a little while.
I think there are instances where chasing condition makes more sense than just buying a label while the card is barely in any better condition. One example would be the Ashâs Treecko/Mayâs Torchic/Brockâs Mudkip promos. I really like those cards and, while theyâre not rare, clean copies donât appear very regularly.
That is to say, finding a mint copy at all is noteworthy, regardless of if itâs 9 or 10-worthy; it shouldnât be that only the 10 is so much more expensive while the 9 is cheap, and I would not just pay for a label with a high number on it, but for an actual significant difference in condition/aesthetic appeal versus the damaged copies that are easy to find.
That said, chasing a label can be a fun way to create a challenge for a card you like.
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These were also the cards I had in mind when I was asking the question in this post about card condition based on the card distribution method. To be honest, I have no clue why these Hoenn starter cards have such low âgood qualityâ distribution. Even as a binder collector, I think I would for sure try and upgrade to a better condition raw copy, just because they are so very hard to come by.
Cheers!
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If I were to guess there are a few factors that probably combine to make a meaningful difference.
Theyâre glossy cards that were given out to kids, in magazines, who then had to cut out the sheet from the magazine before peeling them off, at Pokemonâs lowest point (or close to).
Tbh a lot of those early-ish promos might be similar, such as Shining Mew. Although itâs more available/easier to get, it has terrible centring.
Iâd be horrified doing this today. I canât imagine the reckless abandon of kids with these magazines 
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On a side-note: its actually kinda hilarious to read through these threads and see how seriously we talk about Pokemon cards lol. Sometimes i read my own posts and im just like wow why do i sound like a pseudo-scholar going through an existential crisis 
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Collecting and rationality are mutually exclusive
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If anyoneâs in any doubt on psa inconsistency hereâs something im always seeing. We see miscuts graded with them and not graded with them. Why is this? Another example thatâs just popped up.
Damn do you use that site instead of Ebay? Seems pretty clean lol
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Yeah I use it. I prefer it to ebays set up.
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Definitely going to use it from now on, thanks for the info! 
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Guess what just dropped on eBay⊠another copy! But listed at $12,000. 
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Think Iâd actually auction this and hope.
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I trust PSA grades to be accurate around 50% of the time. This is based on regrades and thousands of cards submitted, seeing the change in grades or variance in condition for the same grade. While i know PSA 10s arent the best value, sometimes it just feels better to get the 10 over other grades. Other times i couldnt care about the grade. Pidgey holing oneself (AAA pun) by only collecting 10s is not something i would advise either. Instead i would advise self graded, raw or making savvy decisions if buying already graded.
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