I know some people like and collect PSA cards with qualifiers such as OC (off center) or ST (stained)
but
I really don’t like them and don’t understand why people want a card that is admittedly flawed. I guess some consider it a novelty but to me they are just kind of { u n a e s t h e t I c }. Maybe some get a kick out of hilariously poor production? What’s your perspective on graded cards with qualifiers?
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I share your perspective. I find them undesirable. I guess some collectors like the uniqueness of OC or ST cards.
I’m not sure why people collect PSA in general.
Asinine half-joke aside, it’s most likely a novelty thing. People collect errors for novelty, people collect 9’s or 10’s for novelty, heck people collect PSA 1’s for novelty. If you think about it, we all collect for the sake of novelty. Just depends on how niche your interests are.
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It is definitely a novelty thing! I think they freaking rule. I’m not sure if rare is the word, but they are for sure scarce. Think of how many normal x cards exist for every OC, MC, ST, etc of the same card. It’s a tiny ratio.
To me it’s just dang cool to have something rare(r) and unique!
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The problem with qualifiers is how can you really authenticate it? PSA lacks the knowledge in that department. I guess it depends on the qualifier though since some are widely known. I can put a crap stain on a card and say it qualifies as smelly or stained. I don’t care for them but some can make an exception like the Dark Dragonite that isn’t holo that is supposed to be holo.
Dark dragonite is just an error. I haven’t seen any PSA ST qualifiers that werent known stains or easy to authenticate. The theme deck cards are really easy to authenticate.
I think binders of OC cards can look pretty cool, like in GMP’s video. Paying a premium for a PSA card with the OC qualifier is just silly to me.
OC cards are a marker of poor quality control during the cutting process, but they have their place within the collecting realm. I think the fun thing about them is they are chaotic, you can have any sort of off cut/miscut on any card from any era, potentially.
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Ahh true, not a qualifier oops
I personally love OC and MC qualifiers. I collect them because they are relatively rare in graded form. Most are all single digit pops for the 9OC and 9MC grades and a lot of cards have yet to have a pop at all. I personally find them fun to hunt and I enjoy owning them.
This is unique to Pokémon. I’d say to those who enjoy them, knock yourself out. I saved them raw for the first 15 years but only because nobody wanted them. Then somebody here on e4 wanted them so they got them. I was glad they made somebody happy:)
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I wouldn’t really say this is unique to Pokemon, perhaps maybe in the world of card games it is. I collect coins as well and error coins are rare and unique and also have their own smaller subset of niche collectors who target and go after things like this.
Within the world of “errors” I think there are two main subsets, both stemming from mishaps or errors during production.
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Repeatable Errors - There are multiple examples of the exact same mishap. For example, the dark dragonite non-holo, Pinsir scratch error or in the coin world, say a 1955 double die lincoln cent where the date was struck twice on the coin. These types of “errors” are known, studied, and have multiple examples of the exact same thing with the same patterns. These generally appeal to a larger number of collectors because of this.
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General Errors - These are the things like OC and Stains on the cards. These types of things just happen from time to time and are repeated across multiple sets and years. It’s not specifically attached to a single card or series. There is nothing known as the “Magneton Off-centered error”, but one of these could exist. These types of things exist in the coin world as well and there are graded examples of these by the top two companies that will draw a premium from those niche collectors who find them challenging and fascinating and rare.
Both examples are “Errors” from the factory, could be the Mint or WOTC or whatever, but they tend to happen. Each one has their own set of niche collectors, just the repeatable errors associated with a specific card are more desirable as it becomes a different known “type” for that card and we as collectors want to “collect them all”. OC/ST qualifiers are likely where most people draw the line for collecting them all since not as much is known, it is challenging and not really something associated with a specific card. Every card could in theory (and probably does) have an OC card lurking somewhere.
To each their own in the collecting world. I personally don’t care much for the OC/ST cards but I can certainly see why other people do.
@firebirder31,
Yes, I was talking about cards only. Sports and non sports, off centered cards are a real value buster,
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Here’s what I was talking about.
These Mantle rookies, sold a week apart.
8/19/2019 $66,000.00 8 (OC)
8/12/2019 $489,300.00 8
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WOW!! As always, thanks for the insight!
I figured you were referencing the card world, I just don’t really have much experience outside of Pokemon there. Coming from coins, my perspective is this is nothing new or surprising that people desire the OC items. Always interesting to learn something new and see things from new perspectives!
Name a Pokemon card that has 79 qualifiers in the pop
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