I’m curious to know how they grade centering. You’re right that the back doesn’t matter as much for say a collector but I thought they’d just average the front and back.
I’ve seen a similar card with a 9 centering, but the off center was mainly on the front of the card. That 58/42 top bottom on the back just doesn’t warrant a 10.
No matter how I tweak the numbers I get to 9.375-9.625 avg or so. He could have a Pristine Grade if centering is 9.5 and 10 for surface and edges which is a close call.
I can’t remember where I read it, but my understanding is that Beckett’s 10 requires 60/40 or better centering on the back. They are more strict at BGS than say PSA for example… I’ve graded with both companies and my general impression is that BGS is more STRICT on centering on the back than PSA… even moreso than the 60/40 that is acceptable. I don’t think this particular card would receive a 9 though. It could really go either way between 9.5 or 10… 50% chance of a 9.5/10. That’s my best guess
Just to elaborate on this
BGS is strangly complex in how they grade. Their wording for BGS 10 is:
Centering: 50/50 all around on front. 60/40 or better on back.
Corners: Perfect to the naked eye and Mint under magnification.
Edges: Perfect to the naked eye and virtually free of flaws under magnification.
Surface: No print spots. Flawless color, devoid of registration or focus imperfections. Perfect gloss, devoid of scratches and metallic print lines.
However, because they allow for one grade to be ‘off’ (three 10 subgrades and one 9.5 subgrade) you can get away with one grade being lower so you can use the 9.5 scale as well:
Centering: 50/50 one way, 55/45 the other on front. 60/40 or better on back
Corners: Mint to the naked eye, but slight imperfections allowed under magnification.
Edges: Virtually Mint to the naked eye. A speck of wear is allowed under intense scrutiny.
Surface: A few extremely minor print spots, detectable only under intense scrutiny. Deep color, devoid of registration or focus imperfections. Perfect gloss, devoid of scratches and metallic print lines
