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All The Hype

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
10,250
0
Indianapolis
I'll be taking over to man the FCB BGS submission for the foreseeable future, so in light of that, I thought this would be a fun discussion.

What's your best experience with grading cards? It could be something that came back with a higher grade than you expected, it could be something you graded and made a ton of extra money on, or it could be just getting your favorite card slabbed for protection. Let's hear some stories and experiences! I'll share my favorite experience later.

Lastly, don't forget to check out FCB's October BGS Group Submission, which can be found in my signature and is now open.
 

longbomberz

New member
Aug 11, 2008
1,422
0
My best success was with my first real prospect investment, Jurickson Profar. I dropped off 4 Elite Autos /390, 6 base Chrome autos and 1 Chrome Ref auto and ended up getting 9.5/10s on all but 1 base chrome. Those ended up paying for a couple month's rent after I finished selling off.

Not a huge $ premium, but I dropped off a Kevin Durant UD Rookie Premier Auto (which are really condition sensitive) at the National more or less just to get it in a slab for protection and ended up getting a 9/10. I would have been happy enough with an 8/10 so it was a really nice bonus.
 

UMich92

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2008
1,878
56
By far, my most pleasant surprise was a Verlander card I submitted maybe 3 or 4 years ago. I was grading for protection as part of my PC and would have been content with an 8.5 and quite happy with a 9.0. And yes, the card is still in the PC even after his prices spiked during his MVP season.

Verlander-2005ToppsChromeRedXfr95.jpg
 

kerryfan5

New member
Sep 17, 2012
1,012
0
Ohio thourgh Dickinson, N.D.
My best and only submission is still in my collection. I got a mike Witt IP auto back when I was 12. It was graded by PSA and was found to be authentic. (I hoped so) It is now a key part of my No hitter pitcher autos forever.
 

All The Hype

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
10,250
0
Indianapolis
By far, my most pleasant surprise was a Verlander card I submitted maybe 3 or 4 years ago. I was grading for protection as part of my PC and would have been content with an 8.5 and quite happy with a 9.0. And yes, the card is still in the PC even after his prices spiked during his MVP season.


Great card and great story. Mine is actually similar... Drew Brees was always my favorite athlete ever since his time at Purdue, and at a game back in the early 2000s, my father picked this up for me out of one of the bookstores for $100, which was probably about $80 more than it was worth at the time. He struggled during his first few years in the league, and then finally he figured it out and started playing like a pro bowler. I had considered selling it raw, as I had offers for $500+ for it at one point in time, but ultimately decided to keep it in my own collection. I graded it, just hoping for an 8.5 or 9 for protection, and what do you know...

BreesCrownGEMrcAUhorizontal_zps4ca43eac.jpg



I don't think I'll ever move it.


One of my other favorites was more recently...I thought this card was a 9.5 but I was not sure the auto grade would pull a 10 with the little streak in the W. I get it back and not only was the auto a 10, but so was the card grade! Recently sold it for almost $700 (as a raw card this would be worth about 200-300).

WillMiddlebrooksOrange17bgs10_zpsafa22a05.jpg
 

olerud363

Active member
Jun 14, 2010
3,213
16
Ontario, Canada
I only have a handful of graded cards, and the best would be this one.
2001LEAFSOMBBGS.jpg

Not exactly a high-end card but I don't see many patches of this card for Olerud and I wanted it encapsulated.

P.S. Yes, my scanner sucks for slabs.

- Rodrick
 

jbhofmann

Active member
Mar 12, 2009
6,914
2
Indiana
Got my friend back into cards with the FCB group sub. He had this Pujols unslabbed since 2001 and I coaxed him into subbing it.

jbhofmann-albums-cards-picture786-caption.jpg
 

BenG76

Active member
May 15, 2013
1,819
2
Fancy Gap, VA
Nice cards in this thread. Any particular reason more people get cards graded here by Beckett? I am not knocking Beckett at all. I have just always went with PSA.
 

bear0555

Well-known member
Aug 27, 2008
1,725
25
Nice cards in this thread. Any particular reason more people get cards graded here by Beckett? I am not knocking Beckett at all. I have just always went with PSA.

I've graded hundreds of cards, most of which were through the FCB group sub. I could not tell you how to submit cards to PSA. I assume there is an annual $100 membership fee just to use their service. I tried subbing a few cards through the FCB sub to PSA but issues w/ PSA got my cards graded by BGS instead. I guess they don't want my business.

I also have a higher trust level with BGS as my experience in grading with them makes me believe they are generally honest when it comes to grading a card.
 

jaydub

Member
Jun 18, 2010
932
0
Arvada, CO
My first grading experience was via submitting to Beckett at a card show. It was sorta thrilling not knowing what kind of judge of cards I was. In retrospect I know I paid a lot more in total than I have since through the FCB submission but was a good learning experience. Here are a couple of my faves from that submission.

a3a0.jpg

kg8g.jpg
 

Mamunrud

New member
Aug 14, 2008
629
0
Dubuque, Iowa
I just had my best experience almost a year ago when I bought a Jordan RC along with a Walter Payton RC and sent them both in to Beckett for grading with no real expectations on how they'd do. I even posted scans on here for all to see and give me their opinion of what grade I might get. The Jordan had an obvious corner ding but otherwise nicely centered and overall a decent card. I had guys comment that I'd get around a 4 or 5 on it but that should still net me a decent return on what I paid. The Payton RC looked even better than the Jordan, that would be my best chance.

Well, I must have gotten the right set of eyes to do the grading as the Jordan came back a BGS 8 while the Payton got a 7.5, so needless to say I made out very well on the deal. I sold the pair in January for a nice $500 profit.

ImageUploadedByFreedom Card Board1382148544.881796.jpg
 

BenG76

Active member
May 15, 2013
1,819
2
Fancy Gap, VA
I've graded hundreds of cards, most of which were through the FCB group sub. I could not tell you how to submit cards to PSA. I assume there is an annual $100 membership fee just to use their service. I tried subbing a few cards through the FCB sub to PSA but issues w/ PSA got my cards graded by BGS instead. I guess they don't want my business.

I also have a higher trust level with BGS as my experience in grading with them makes me believe they are generally honest when it comes to grading a card.

PSA isn't very complicated. I do think they could drop the membership thing. Although the cost of membership does include you getting cards graded. I got 15 grades with my membership renewal that I just sent in recently. Hopefully they will be back to me in a few days.

I have noticed the auto refractors seem to sell better when slabbed by Beckett. Overall though it seems to me cards graded by PSA command a higher price when sold especially vintage. I am not knocking Beckett this is just the way it appears to me.

I have considered offering to send in cards for a few people on my next PSA submission but I have not contacted anyone with the forum to get approval to do so. If I did I would want to keep it small so it wouldn't get overly complicated.
 

lambert58

New member
Sep 29, 2008
425
0
Melbourne, FL
The almost worst was my first time submitting to PSA years ago around 1992. I sent in about 20 or so cards and got the email that the grades were ready. I checked them out and again thios was years ago I did pretty well. No 10's but those were harder to get back then, but lots of 9's of Ripken Rookies, Gwynn, Sandberg, Clemens, Griffey, Frank Thomas, a Jordan 2nd year Fleer and others. Well when the card arrived they were not my cards! Yikes, I call PSA and they sent me someone elses cards. The worst part was that his highest grade was a 6 of on 82 Fleer Ripken. I couldn't even believe someone sent in the cards this person did to get graded. He did a have a few cards from the 50's & 60's about 10 cards in all, but I did not know any of the players and they were all PSA 1,2, 3, or 4 grades. Luckily I did finally get my cards.
 

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