The card itself has no whitening and no scratches when I examine it under a light. I triple sleeved this card and put it inside a top loader immediately when I got it from a pack 6 years ago.
I plan on sending it to get it graded but I don’t know what level of grading is suitable for this card. also the minimal grading.
any help appreciated.
If the card were to be lost forever, how much money would you need to get in return to not jump off a bridge? Declare that value to PSA and insure it for that much on its way to PSA. Costs too much? Insure it for less then, but understand the risk involved.
It is a question nobody but you can answer as it has to do with your budget, and your risk tolerance.
What do you mean “…also the minimal grading”?
it says on the form “please select a minimal grading you are willing to accept” and it mentions "if your card does not exceed this grading, your card will NOT be graded and sent back
I guess the minimal grading is down to what you are personally happy with receiving for that card. But I think with a card like a 1st edition base set charizard I would want to get it encapsulated to keep it in good condition even if the grade is not the highest. But there is the option to get it authenticated by Psa instead of graded.
Ok. What is the difference between authenticated and graded?
The yellow line on the top of the charizard is thin and the bottom is thick. I think it’s off center, does that affect the grading?
An authenticated card will not be assigned a grade, it will be examined, and if it hasn’t been altered and is genuine it will be put into a PSA case with ‘Authentic’ on the label.
A graded card goes through all the processes of the authentication as mentioned above, but they also will grade the cards condition based on a number of factors, including centering, which you have mentioned is a problem with your charizard.
You do not have to choose minimum grade option. If you leave it blank, they will simply assign a grade to it on the spectrum of 1-10. Where the minimum grade comes into play more often is on modern cards when an 8 is worth less than a raw NM/MINT card in many cases. People will send in a hoard of 11/108 charizard evolutions with minimum grade 9 or even minimum grade 10 if they are just shooting for that 10. Grading fees would still be assessed on every card that comes back below the minimum specified grade, but it would save you from cracking them out of the case if that is what you would do anyways.
So @legendaryblu in this case I would recommend to leave that blank, as I am sure you would want your card protected regardless. I recently sent in a zard that I knew would be 8+, had a shot at a 9, and though I dreamt it could possibly achieve a 10, I knew it didn’t have a real shot. I had several hundred into it, and so marked it for $1k. I was quite sure it would be an 8, and if it was lost or burnt up along the way, it would have really sucked but I would have been happy with $1k to replace it with equivalent.
Awesome. Thanks for the help