Should I Get My Sports Cards Graded?

Vintage Sports Card Grading

Many long-time dealers and collectors were adamantly opposed to the idea. Some still are, but those numbers faded quickly when many former opponents saw the astronomical prices collectors were willing to pay for certain cards. Graded cards are now a huge part of the sports collecting hobby.

• Study the grading standards PSA, SGC, Beckett and other companies on their websites and in their publications. It’s all there in black and white and even though the grading process is still somewhat subjective, you’ll know generally what to expect. Get to know each and every flaw that will result in the card being downgraded. Pay special attention to the centering requirements, which have been known to turn a ‘9’ into a ‘7’ faster than you can say “PSA”.

• Go to a card show or shop and examine various cards that have already been graded. Find a patient dealer or shop owner and ask him to point out the small flaws that make a card an 8 instead of a 9; a 5 instead of an 8.

• If you’re serious about sports card grading and authentication, invest in a good jeweler’s loupe or better yet, a table lamp/magnifier such as those used by people who sew. It’s the only way to see the subtle differences a grader will see when he’s examining your cards.

• Testing. Submitting cards yourself is the best way to get a handle on grading standards. Make notes on what you think each card’s flaws are and grade it yourself. Then, when the cards come back, compare your notes with what the grader decided. Get together with some collecting friends and see if you can get enough cards together to send in under the ‘bulk rate’. The more cards you can examine, the better you’ll get.

• Study eBay’s completed items. Before you decide which cards to send in for grading, study the selling prices of similar cards sold on eBay. If a PSA 9 or SGC 96 isn’t selling for much of a premium, there probably isn’t a great reason to send yours in unless you just want it in a slab for your collection.

There was a time when the value of old baseball cards that were graded was always higher than those that were not. The grading companies’ set registries inflated the value for many sports cards that didn’t get much respect before, but as more of those sets have been completed, the demand for many of the post-1950s material has decreased. It’s still a good market since new collectors are entering all the time while others begin new set completion projects. Just don’t expect everything you grade to turn to gold.

It will cost you more to grade pre-1950s material, but it’s hard to argue that you shouldn’t do it for any card that is EX or better. They’re somewhat scarce to begin with and many could be considered antiques.

You can certainly enjoy your 1930s Diamond Stars or 1909-1911 T206 cards without having them graded, but not only will the slab protect the increasingly fragile cards from damage, they’ll probably sell faster and for more money if you’ve already had them authenticated and labeled.

For insurance purposes, it’s also easier to keep track of the proper and documented value of your collection if your cards have been slabbed. Baseball card values for each grade are quite specific in the price guides, even if the printed guides haven’t always proven to be an accurate measure in every case.

A super clean mid-to-late 1960s or 1970s Topps common in near mint condition barely sells for the grading fee unless it’s one of the tougher cards in the set. Yet the auction competition can be stiff for a rare, mint commons and a $2 card can sometimes sell for the price of an ungraded set!

It is a good idea to have virtually any early 1950s stars like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and others graded, unless they are creased, stained or otherwise defaced. The same holds true for high number or rare series cards, especially 1952 Topps and 1953 Topps. The demand is there, even for mid-grade stars and many collectors prefer the security of a grading company’s approval before spending a few hundred dollars.

It’s hard to believe you can take a freshly-printed sports card out of a pack and ship it to a grading company. The only flaws they can grade in such cases reflect more on the quality of the printing process than if the card has been handled. Still, the graded card market for high-demand cards of today’s players is solid when it comes to high dollar rookie cards, inserts, autographed cards and the like. 1 of 1 autographed insert cards can sell easier and for significant amounts if the assigned grade tops all others. It simply adds to the pedigree of the card to have it in a holder.

Modern Sports Card Grading

Picking and choosing your spots is really more difficult for modern era cards than for vintage. Most cards over the last twenty years have gone directly from packs to pages or tightly-packed monster boxes. It’s almost unusual to find a card that isn’t in mint condition. Knowing the market by researching sales and talking to dealers in tune with current products is vital.

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 35 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]