The Giant Professional Grading Thread

[knotchi]

@zorloth

Do you think you just missed the dent when you originally examined it? Or do you think it was dented afterwards? I’m just curious because you seemed pretty confident it would be an 8/9 minimum.

With that dent, if the rest of the card is clean, I agree that 4 seems a bit harsh. 5-6 is what I would’ve expected.

I’m gonna give PSA the benefit of the doubt and say that I missed the dent. But who knows. Regardless, I wanna get into the habit of taking lots of pictures before submitting high-end cards because PSA has a small record of damaging cards while grading.

[cinnaminhbun]

@knotchi

@david

It’s dented. That’s a PSA 6 max. Arguing over PSA 4 vs. PSA 6 is pointless since PSA basically just throws out random numbers on everything 6 and below.

If I were you, I would just crack it and sell it raw (making sure to disclose all the flaws). In this market, someone will buy it at PSA 7-8 prices thinking it could get a 9.

That would be incredibly problematic if PSA was throwing out random numbers on anything below a 6 lol. I am aware that dents make it auto 6. But go look at old cert PSA 4/5’s (0XX, 1XX) and tell me this belongs in the same category.

@pokematt

Dent, crease, doesn’t matter. If the card is absolutely mint with either of these it is an auto 6.  Any other defects (holo scratches, wear, etc) can lower the grade as well.  They’re not more strict, that’s a PSA 4/5 card unfortunately.  If you have a PSA 9 with a crease, that is a card that snuck by due to human error which is very possible, that does not mean it deserves a 9 and doesn’t mean PSA used to be less strict because of this.

Oh for sure, I wasn’t basing my argument that PSA is stricter entirely on the fact that this got a 4. That would be absurd.

Also to clarify, this isn’t even my Lugia. I just sent it in for my friend so I’m not salty or anything that this got a low grade. It’s not my card.

There are tons of cards that get PSA 4/5 due to edge wear, surface scratching, etc., sure. But cards with a dent that verges on the same look that water/humidity damage or something of the like would cause.. well that’s damage so I’m not sure how the two are comparable? They may both be 4/5 worthy but PSA doesn’t (at least knowingly) grade cards with obvious damage above PSA 7-8. It’s unfortunate, yes, but saying “compare it to the other 4s!” doesn’t really help because this is a different type of damage that has always been a grade killer.

Edit: Left out a word!

[knotchi]

@cinnaminhbun

@knotchi

That would be incredibly problematic if PSA was throwing out random numbers on anything below a 6 lol. I am aware that dents make it auto 6. But go look at old cert PSA 4/5’s (0XX, 1XX) and tell me this belongs in the same category.

Oh for sure, I wasn’t basing my argument that PSA is stricter entirely on the fact that this got a 4. That would be absurd.

Also to clarify, this isn’t even my Lugia. I just sent it in for my friend so I’m not salty or anything that this got a low grade. It’s not my card.

There are tons of cards that get PSA 4/5 due to edge wear, surface scratching, etc., sure. But cards with a dent that verges on the same look that water/humidity damage or something of the like would cause.. well that’s damage so I’m not sure how the two are comparable? They may both be 4/5 worthy but PSA doesn’t (at least knowingly) grade cards with obvious damage above PSA 7-8. It’s unfortunate, yes, but saying “compare it to the other 4s!” doesn’t really help because this is a different type of damage that has always been a grade killer.

Edit: Left out a word!

I didn’t say compare it to other 4’s, I said compare it to other 4’s from 0XX/1XX certs. A lot of those 4’s have wild dents ALONG with scratches, dirt and edge wear. If PSA has standards that are supposed to stand the test of time then there’s no reason why a 4 today should look nothing like some of the 4’s of the past, even if I cherry picked the worst of the 4’s.

[kazambolt]

My Autograph card order I sent in in November just hit grading:

Arrived: December
Research: By 3-15
Grading: 4-19

Didn’t get exact dates on every step but glad to see movement, I know a bunch of people have been waiting for Auto orders too.

[kingboo64]

@amwolf

checked this bad boy over a few hundred times for scratches, dents, and any major whitening, none of those expect for maybe some minor edgewear. My phone blurs the image a bit, just a warning. Sending to CGC, what do you guys think it’ll grade? I’m thinking 8-8.5 but a 9 would absolutely be a great return for me >.>

I’d expect an 8.5

[jaredschallenge]

@knotchi

“pSa GrAdInG sTaNdArDz HaVeN’T cHaNgeD!!!11”

https://i.imgur.com/1UqXmXi.jpg(image larger than 8 MB)

I’m just playing. But I did just get this Lugia back from Super Express. I thought it was 7-8 worthy but it got a 4. It’s probably the cleanest four in existence. I did notice a very very small bend (no crease) in the corner and I’m aware dents make it auto-6. I don’t think this card is a four so I’m probably just gonna crack it, put it in a book to flatten the bend and send to CGC. This card can definitely get higher than a four lol.

My first ed ven pulled a 4 in a similar condition,but at least it had one scratch on the text. Sorry My man

[kemost]

Any used PCA for grading?

I shipped a Jungle-set for grading a 2 weeks ago, and they have not paid import duties (they dont have a permit for temperory import i was told from DHL, som must pay) and it’s been at DHL Paris for over 1 week now.

Tried to send mail and call, but no respond

Allready paid, so afraid not to get my money back. Paypal.

[medwok]

Hi everyone, this will be the first card that I grade as soon as PSA opens up again. The only problem that it has is this scratch ,visible only under light and at an angle, everything else is perfect. How would this affect the grade? Sorry for the bad pic, but I didn’t want to take it out of the toploader again lol. I can if you need more pics. Thanks in advance.

[pichufan]

As a weekly PSA update, this week PSA has graded 14,968 Pokémon cards including 5,436 PSA 10s and 5,482 PSA 9s. The total number of Pokémon cards they’ve now graded is 1,626,354 - 487,615 (29.98%) of those are from the past 12 months.

With 1,837 PSA 8 grades appearing this week the total number of PSA 8 graded Pokémon cards now exceeds 200k (201,669).

The top 3 most graded cards this week are:

1. 1999 Base Set unlimited Charizard #4 - 221 copies graded (no PSA 10s);
2. 2018 SM Promo Red’s Pikachu (Japanese) - 173 copies graded (144 PSA 10s);
3. 2016 XY Evolutions Charizard #11 - 161 copies graded (5 PSA 10s).

Red’s Pikachu is a bit of a surprise there as last week only 10 of those were graded - I wonder if the majority of those are from the same submitter?

If we look further down the list there’s another surprise there as well. In 10th place is Bianca #147 from the 2012 Boundaries Crossed set which had 82 copies graded in the past week (5 of which received PSA 10 grades). This has almost doubled the population of the card from 95 copies up to 177, and only 4 copies of this card were graded in the 12 months prior to this week. I wonder if this was the same submitter as all those Red’s Pikachu cards?

The top 3 most graded sets this week are:

1. 2019 Hidden Fates - 1,133 cards graded (669 PSA 10s);
2. 2016 XY Evolutions - 754 cards graded (175 PSA 10s);
3. 1999 Base Set unlimited - 610 cards graded (20 PSA 10s).

I’m considering separating Shiny Vault cards into their own subset which would split Hidden Fates into two sets and ultimately lower the numbers here, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not yet.

These statistics are all from a web app I’ve made which I’m looking for beta testers. See PichuFan is looking for beta testers! for more information and send me a PM if you’re interested.

[pentagon]

Hello all,

Just unboxed my new Alakazam and he has this mark at the bottom left corner. Is it a dreaded crease???

Was from the sealed box set :S but that’s the luck of the draw I guess.

I’ve tried to get as clear photos as I can.

imgur.com/tuiLUc2
imgur.com/Cb9Qy7j
imgur.com/urX3z4z

[mannynotfound]

Had a 420 thought yesterday:

What if PSA allowed you to customize the hideous red frame they slap on every slab with a custom color that matched the artwork better? Would anyone want this? If so, how much of a premium if any would you be willing to pay for it?

Poorly photoshopped PWCC scans to illustrate concept below:

[pentagon]

It does look an awful lot better, becomes harder when you’re trying to match sets or a collection.

Possibly makes resale harder as someone with an all black collection would have to get it recoloured

If you could get it recoloured cheaply and quickly then maybe… but seems unlikely…

That Umbreon as a BGS black label though…

[kpod]

Just one data point, sent in 13 cards to be recased at the cheapest rate (card value less than $5000)

Received: 7/28/20
Entered: 10/01/20
Shipped back: 4/21/21

[pokematt]

@pentagon

Hello all,

Just unboxed my new Alakazam and he has this mark at the bottom left corner. Is it a dreaded crease???

Was from the sealed box set :S but that’s the luck of the draw I guess.

I’ve tried to get as clear photos as I can.

imgur.com/tuiLUc2
imgur.com/Cb9Qy7j
imgur.com/urX3z4z

Honestly looks fine to me

[pokematt]

@medwok

Hi everyone, this will be the first card that I grade as soon as PSA opens up again. The only problem that it has is this scratch ,visible only under light and at an angle, everything else is perfect. How would this affect the grade? Sorry for the bad pic, but I didn’t want to take it out of the toploader again lol. I can if you need more pics. Thanks in advance.

It would knock it down a grade. Other stuff on the card such as edge wear, other scratches, centering, can all knock it down a grade as well

[kpod]

Surprised this hasn’t been posted yet, PSA purchases an AI company to help with card grading

www.actionnetwork.com/news/psa-purchases-genamint-improve-card-grading-april-21

…Turner told The Action Network that PSA would still be graded by humans, but the technology from Genamint will provide a huge assist to the process.

Turner was first turned on to computer assistance when he was building his company Flatiron Health. There, computers helped nurses sort clinical trial data faster and more accurately. Turner sold that company for $1.9 billion in 2018.

When a card comes into PSA, it is scanned. Using Genamint’s technology, the computer will put up print marks and surface defects so that every card will be unique.

“Each card has different combinations of 70 major anomalies that we’ve identified,” Lenane said. “From major ones like creases and scratches and stains to single pixels that are compromised.”

Based on learnings made from every card, the machine will be able to pick up if a card is trimmed or if a person has cracked out a card that was previously graded in hopes of getting a better grade…

[pokematt]

@kpod

Surprised this hasn’t been posted yet, PSA purchases an AI company to help with card grading

www.actionnetwork.com/news/psa-purchases-genamint-improve-card-grading-april-21

“Each card has different combinations of 70 major anomalies that we’ve identified,” Lenane said. “From major ones like creases and scratches and stains to single pixels that are compromised.”

These robots gonna be able to identify stains of a single pixel on a card?? These “robot cert” PSA 10’s going to be commanding a huge premium

[kpod]

@pokematt

@kpod

Surprised this hasn’t been posted yet, PSA purchases an AI company to help with card grading

www.actionnetwork.com/news/psa-purchases-genamint-improve-card-grading-april-21

These robots gonna be able to identify stains of a single pixel on a card?? These “robot cert” PSA 10’s going to be commanding a huge premium

Time to sell all your “original hand-graded 10s” before their value plummets

[lolzicost]

@kpod

Surprised this hasn’t been posted yet, PSA purchases an AI company to help with card grading

www.actionnetwork.com/news/psa-purchases-genamint-improve-card-grading-april-21

…Turner told The Action Network that PSA would still be graded by humans, but the technology from Genamint will provide a huge assist to the process.

Turner was first turned on to computer assistance when he was building his company Flatiron Health. There, computers helped nurses sort clinical trial data faster and more accurately. Turner sold that company for $1.9 billion in 2018.

When a card comes into PSA, it is scanned. Using Genamint’s technology, the computer will put up print marks and surface defects so that every card will be unique.

“Each card has different combinations of 70 major anomalies that we’ve identified,” Lenane said. “From major ones like creases and scratches and stains to single pixels that are compromised.”

Based on learnings made from every card, the machine will be able to pick up if a card is trimmed or if a person has cracked out a card that was previously graded in hopes of getting a better grade…

Kinda funny seeing this and looking back at people here who were so adamant that this would never happen.

[caughtatpoint]

“More graders are being added every two weeks and the company is currently working through the backlog by grading 20,000 to 25,000 cards a day, Turner said.”

If the backlog is 10 million (as the article claims), that’s 400-500 (business) days, or 80-100 weeks, which is about what people were estimating. If they are adding graders every two weeks maybe that can increase the 20,000-25,000 figure slightly, but probably not too much.

By the end of this 3 month suspension, they should have graded about 1.5 million cards, or about a tenth of the supposed backlog. I do not see a way for them to have a $20 tier when they re-open.