Broadly defined as baseball cards produced from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, the "Junk Wax Era" is often cited as a primary reason for the crash of the industry felt in the late 1990s. The gist is that cards produced during that time were usually printed in far greater quantities than many collectors believed. As a result, supply became much greater than demand. That … [Read more...]
PWCC Launches Eye Appeal Scale
You hear the term “eye appeal” a lot when collectors discuss vintage trading cards. It’s a somewhat subjective quality but now one dealer is putting a number behind it. PWCC Marketplace has instituted a program to assess how subtle aesthetic qualities impact a card’s market value. While third-party grading companies work with a set of technical guidelines, PWCC … [Read more...]
SGC Moving to 10-Point Grading Scale, Plans Submission Process Upgrades
SGC will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer but cake and ice cream aren’t the only thing the grading and authenticating firm will be passing out. Some big changes are happening as part of an overall rebranding of one of the hobby’s most familiar names. Earlier this month, the Florida-based company announced the upcoming launch of a uniform … [Read more...]
Beckett Grading Suspends 10-Day Service Option as Orders Pile Up
Due to a backlog of orders, Beckett Grading has suspended its 10-day guaranteed service for trading cards. A message on the company’s website reads, “Due to a historic number of orders/cards being submitted, and our growing wait times with our non-guaranteed service level, Beckett Grading will temporarily suspend their 10-day service level starting June 7, 2018.” With … [Read more...]
Raw to Graded: Tips for Turning a Profit
‘Flipping’ has taken on an entirely different meaning since it was first coined many years ago when kids would open penny packs of bubble gum cards and play a game that involved attempts to land them upright against a vertical surface. Who knows how many thousands of minty Mickey Mantle cards were turned into low-grade shoebox survivors during recess and summer vacation … [Read more...]
Baseball Card Grading Circa 1974
In the May 1974 issue of The Trader Speaks, long-time collector Gavin Riley wrote a column entitled A Standard Guide to Card Collecting. The approximately 700-word missive was meant to show collectors what the generally accepted guidelines were when it came to grading cards. With no grading company in place, it was up to sellers to state the condition of certain card, lot or … [Read more...]
Should I Get My Sports Cards Graded?
Graded sports cards can be found by the thousands on eBay. It’s a little hard to believe how prevalent and accepted the concept has become considering the anti-grading uproar that ensued when it was first announced that PSA would enter the card grading business nearly two decades ago. Now, it's a question collectors ask themselves all the time: Should I get my sports cards … [Read more...]