Today I got back my first submission ever to PSA. I'll be posting a question later, as the grading seems somewhat random to me, but here are the nicest of my near set (45 of 48) as they came back to me.

I don't really think that this fits in the pick up thread as I didn't pick them up, they were already mine.

I got back a bunch of PSA 4s, I am showing the following two as one of many examples of what I don't understand about grading. I sent in all of my Sea Raiders in one shot, some are good, others are very poor, but the point is that the grader sits down and grades forty-five Sea Raiders all at once. So my question is how can the grader sit and grade two consecutive numbers (one right after the other) as pictured below and return them with the same grade? #6 is snow white, great centering, sharp corners (okay there is some minor softness) while #7 is toned, has soft if not rounded corners (that lower left corner is very dented), and edge chipping and or denting on the right side. There are absolutely no wrinkles, creases, or paper loss on either card.

I don't want to start the whole grade versus not grade debate, I'm just wondering about what some of you other collectors might have to comment about an example like this. I do find that I have a hard time looking at sets when two or three cards are graded and stored somewhere separately than the rest of the set; it just seems somewhat incomplete when they are not all together.

Hi Daniel,

Nice grades and great looking cards.

Obviously, just looking at the scan, your #6 looks like a PSA 6. I don't how many times I've gotten cards back from PSA and wondered why one was graded a PSA 4 or a PSA 2. I almost always take these cards out of the slabs. What I almost always find is that the PSA 4s have some sort of surface crease, and the PSA 2s have some sort of paper loss. It's often impossible to see these problems when the cards are in the slabs, but I can usually find them when I take them out. Not always though, as I've certainly had a few "mystery" cards, and I'd love to talk to the grader about these. What I do in these cases is resubmit the card.

One other possibility for your #6 is that the card has been bleached somehow. It could be the scan, but the back looks like a very weird shade of white to me.

Alan

looks to be a 6 to me.........right a 4. BUT......there may be a really small crease on the left one or something that's not readily evident from scans. Absent that, it's just a snafu by the grader. But they never do that--right?

First of all, great looking cards!

Grading can seem random at times. I believe the graders try to be objective, but in the end, it still comes down to the professional grader's opinion (sometimes more than one grader) using their company's published grading criteria.

I try to think of grading in terms of ranges and probability. A card may appear NM to me, but I'm realistic in thinking that it has a chance of coming back a lower or even higher grade. It may have a range of possibilities depending on the grader:
5% chance of an 8
80% chance of a 7
15% chance of a 6

Another card that I think is NM (but not quite as nice as the first), may have a different range:
0% chance of an 8
55% chance of a 7
45% chance of a 6

This is why a lot of people crack and resubmit a card if they feel it has a decent probability of getting a higher grade on resubmission.

Before I submit a card, I write down what I think the grade will be. It almost always comes back at that grade, one grade better, or one grade lower (not including the half grades). If the cards is two or worse grades than I expected, I take a closer look and usually find some type of damage I missed (usually a very minor crease or paper loss). Rarely, if ever is it two or more grades higher.

When looking at the PSA grading scale, remember the three C's are the most important (creases, corners and centering - probably in that order). A card with paper loss (no matter how minor) usually won't receive better than a PSA 2. A creased card (no matter how minor or close to the corner) rarely receives better than a 4. A card with a rounded corner (no matter how slight) rarely comes back better than a 5. Fraying is similar for the high grade cards - a frayed corner usually won't get better than an 8. There are of course exceptions. People post pictures all the time at various message boards of cards with grades that appear way off, but of the thousands of cards PSA grades every month, for the most part they seem fairly consistent.

My first thought on the comparison of PSA 4 cards is that the #6 might have a minor crease that is nearly impossible to see, but can be felt. Or the top left and/or top right corners have a minor creases (right near the corners). Otherwise, it looks like it should at least of received a 5 (one slightly rounded corner) or even up to a 6 on a very good day.

Regardless of all of this, the eye appeal of a card is something that is not always captured in the grade. I have sold or traded away higher grade cards because I had a lower grade duplicate with better eye appeal, even if technically both of them were accurately graded.

I took this card out of the SGC slab and submitted it as a raw card.

Nice post Brent. I was thinking the same thing, but you said it much better than I would have.

Alan

hey daniel, congrats on the cards. where are the rest of them, as i know you are almost complete? cant wait to see all the high numbers. after 5 years of grading cards its still a mystery to me, 90% of the time i can understand the grade (the non obvious ones) 10% of the time ???????????????????????

How is it that Sea Raiders #6 and #7 ended up with the same grade even though Sea Raiders #6 is the far nicer card on the basis of corners, toning, staining, etc? Do they wear brown tinted sunglasses or something when they grade these cards?

"How is it that Sea Raiders #6 and #7 ended up with the same grade even though Sea Raiders #6 is the far nicer card on the basis of corners, toning, staining, etc? Do they wear brown tinted sunglasses or something when they grade these cards?"

because they grade to a published standard, not comparing one card to another. #6 could be at the top range of a 4 and #7 could be at the bottom range of a 4. Some 4s look better than some 5s. As I speculated in my previous post, I suspect that there is a minor crease somewhere on the card. If not, it should of received at least a 4.5 or 5, and maybe even a 6 on a very good day.

In my experience, toning and staining seem to be the most inconsistent aspects of PSA's grading. Toning doesn't seem to affect the grading of low and mid range cards as much as missing paper, creases and corners. I have submitted N cards that look EX on the front, but have faint glue or tobacco stains on the back and received grades all over the board (2s, 4s, 5s with no qualifier, and 5s with a (st) qualifier).