About Professional Authenticators/Grading Services

Professional Sports Authenticators

• The PSA holder on the pictured 1953 Bowman Color #59 Mickey Mantle is the latest PSA holder. Label had card description, grade, bar code, & Certification number. On the back is a barcode with Cert. number. Both the front & back label have a special counterfeit-proof silver holographic PSA symbol. You can go on PSA's website and type in certification number to confirm the details of this card. 

PSA was started in 1991 by David Hall, who owned a coin grading service (PCGS). It started off small as not a lot of collectors were happy about having their cardboard treasures encapsulated in a hard plastic case, and it cost money to boot. Well, there was a need for an independent 3rd party grader. Baseball and other sports cards were exploding in value. And with all that money, of course you are going to have those who want to rake in cash off unsuspecting card buyers. Counterfeits were made of expensive cards, notably rookie cards of Pete Rose, Michael Jordan. And then you had the card "doctors," who would deceptively "trim" and alter original cards to make them seem nicer than they actually were. Bleaching, restoring paper, removing ink markings, touch-ups, etc. It's all been done. PSA took the "guesswork" and "fear factor" out of the equation.  Buyer need not worry they were shelling out thousands for a "fake" or "altered" card. They would authenticate the card and assign a technical grade.  This is important as a card's condition (or grade) determines the value. Higher grade equals higher price. Lower grades- lower price. It made collector's more at ease and eventually PSA began to prosper. They have been here ever since. PSA has graded some of the most expensive cards on planet earth. In fact, desired cards graded by PSA usually bring higher resale values than the other grading services that have the exact same grade. 

An added benefit of PSA is their SET REGISTRY app. You can use this not only to inventory your PSA graded collection, but you can also add non-PSA inventory as well. You can upload photos, printouts, and more! You do NOT have to be a paying member to do this either. I use it for my entire collection. And it's fun! Kind of like a digital "scrapbook" of your collecton! The PSA Set Registry also tracks the thousands of sets out there and you can add your set, or start a set even. There are complete sets, Team sets, player sets and more. For instance I have 2 current set I am working on. One is the "Basic Pete Maravich" set, which is every regular Topps card of Pete Maravich from 1970-1980. I have 7 of the 11 cards. You add your PSA graded cards to the set & you can also upgrade, remove, or buy cards you need in a link provided. The PSA Set Registry is a great tool for your collection. And it's fun!

To use PSA services, you must become a COLLECTOR CLUB member (currently $99 per year as of February 15, 2023). As a member you get "Grading Specials," which means you pay less than regular PSA prices for the different "Tiers" of Authentication and Grading Services. A card's value determines which tier you must use. High dollar cards have a substantial fee and are basically "walked through" the grading process. Economy service or Bulk services (submitting large volumes of cards at one time) offer the lowest prices per card. You do not have to be a member of PSA's COLLECTOR CLUB to submit your cards. You can go to a "PSA Authorized Dealer" and they will submit the cards for you. 

Submit. To submit cards (as a Collector Club Member) you go to PSA's website and follow the online submission forms. These include an inventory of the card(s) you are sending. For insurance purposes they will ask for a "Declared Value" for each card. This covers you in case of loss or damage. It also determines return shipping which you also pay. Once PSA receives your submission, they begin the authentication and grading processes. Because of PSA's popularity, turn-around-times for most cards is going to be nearly 3 months! So be patient. During the process you can check on the progress and what "stage" our cards are in. It's kind of like Domino's Pizza Tracker if you are familiar with that. But like I said, because of the high volume of cards received, PSA has painfully long wait times.     

Authenticating. PSA determines if your card is original and unaltered. If it does not pass, the card is returned and a reason will be given (for instance, "Evidence of trimming," "Recolored." etc.). If the card is authentic, it then goes through to be graded. 

Grading. PSA claims they are "the largest and most trusted card grading service in the world. " This might be true, though the other services below also say something similar. PSA uses a 1-10 scale with a PSA GEM MINT 10 being the highest. PSA POOR 1 is the lowest.  NOTE- some cards, like hand cut cards (Post Cereal, Bazooka, etc.) that are cut shorter than original size will not be assigned a technical number grade but can be give an "AUTHENTIC" only label. The card is then reviewed and graded by more than one grader. Once given a grade, the card is assigned a PSA holographic label with card description, grade, and unique certificate number. The certificate number is entered into PSA's database. The card then gets sonically sealed in a durable, hard plastic card holder (slab). It goes through quality control and if everything is good, the card is carefully packaged and sent back to you. 

PSA errors. Does PSA make mistakes? Of course, and so do SGC & Beckett. We ALL do. But just so you know there are plenty of examples of PSA graded cards with incorrect data on the label.  Or sometimes you wonder what is going on over there at PSA. Because PSA is considered the "best," they also hesitate to admit when they make mistakes. There are many examples of PSA graded cards that leave you scratching your head. Like this one for instance...

Professional Sports Authenticators Cock-Ups

PSA makes & has made MANY mistakes. Grading issues, label errors, they happen. So do the other grading services. No one is perfect. But if PSA is supposedly "THE BEST" of the Professional Grading Services, how can they goof up like on this 1970 Topps Ron Santo card?

Here we have 4 different 1970 TOPPS #670 RON SANTO cards, all PSA graded PSA NM-MT 8. One however (which happens to be my card), has a PSA "qualifier," which is the "(ST)" symbol next to the grade. (ST) is the PSA abbreviation for "stain" (or stained). You can't help but notice that there is a noticeable stain in the bottom left corner above "Ron." Fine I think it is accurate to say my card has a stain and it is noted as such. Good for PSA. Now look at the other cards. They have the exact same stain in the same place! So why do these 3 other PSA NM-MT 8 graded cards NOT have the (ST) qualifier? This is not so good...

I contacted PSA about this as either A.) PSA has not been consistent on the grading of this particular card, or B.) This could be a "VARIATION" as most of the 1970 Topps 670 Santo cards do NOT have this stain. It's either one, or the other. PSA says it's not a variation, and I am free to send back my card for regrading. Of course it's not really "free" as I have to pay regular grading fees, AND because PSA no longer uses "qualifiers" that the card will come back a much lower grade (likely no better than PSA EX 5). No acknowledgment of the fact that PSA has been inconsistent on their grading of (at least) this particular card. I was not pleased with this, as my card, either with the (ST) qualifier OR the lower grade with no qualifier, is "worth" substantially LESS than the stained cards that are not labeled as such. Does this all make sense to you?  It doesn't to me. 

In the grand scheme of things.... whoop-dee-doo. But just know PSA, Beckett & SGC ALL have made, and will make mistakes. Do they happen often? With the sheer volume of submissions they get, I would have to say no. That being said, you can always have the card reviewed by PSA (& the others). If they acknowledge that the card is over graded, they will either compensate you for the price difference between the 2 grades, buy back the card from you, or try some other means fair to both parties to rectify the issue.

My thoughts on this. I think the 1970 Topps 670 Ron Santo cards with that particular stain have to be considered "variations," as the stain is in exactly the same place on several known examples. I did a search on eBay and saw a few more examples of that same card with the exact same stain. So acknowledge them as variations or, tell your graders to get it together and start grading these examples consistently.  Keep in mind this is just one example. You can check out another PSA cock-up featuring a 1978 Topps 333 1977 NFL Rushing Leaders Walter Payton NO NAME variation (see our ODDBALLS & ODDITIES Page).

Beckett Grading Service

BECKETT Grading Services was founded in 1998 by James Beckett. Dr. James Beckett previously had published price guides and other hobby publications. At one time dealers were swearing by Beckett 'prices," especially because there was a "HIGH" column and a "LOW" column, & probably every dealer out there would use the HIGH price when selling a card and give you a lowball offer if you were selling cards. I never really cared for the Beckett Publications.  But let's talk about Beckett Grading Services. Like PSA & SGC, Beckett does both authenticating and grading. The one thing Beckett does that the other two don't is use "Subgrades." What are "Subgrades?" For an extra few dollars per card, Beckett will give a number value (1-10) for CENTERING, CORNERS, EDGES & SURFACE. The card above does not have subgrades, but I will put an example up shortly. If you request the subgrades, Beckets will print the subgrades along with the final grade on the label. Are subgrades necessary? No, but sometimes when you get a card back you want to know why, exactly, the card received a particular grade. Subgrades show the cards strengths and weaknesses. But the bottom line is the actual grade assigned. Beckett claims on their site to be "The #1 Card Grading Service in the Industry - The most accurate and trusted grading in the collectibles industry." Ok. I don't know about that either. I do know at one time Beckett Grading had 3 different services: BVG (or Beckett VINTAGE Grading; see above example), BGS (Beckett Grading Services; for MODERN cards), and BCCG (Beckett Collector's Club Grading services) which was a quicky, "wham-bam-thank you Maam" cut-rate "service." Luckily they don't do this dis-service anymore. But I'm sure they made out money-wise. But in checking out their website, it appears that they simplified and now have just one service. That's good. All cards, modern and vintage are supposed to have the same grading scale, so why the need for a vintage AND a modern service? Ridiculous. As a result, I was turned off by Beckett, specifically BCCG, and in truth, I NEVER submitted a card to Beckett for grading. Nor will I. But that is me.

That being said, the price for submitting cards is about the same as PSA. But with Beckett there is no required "club" or "membership" to submit cards. The holders are a bit thicker than PSA with square edges and corners (PSA has slightly rounded corners and edges on their holders). Are Beckett holders more durable that PSA? I don't know either way, but I do know I have seen both with cracks, so it is entirely possible to ruin a card by trying to remove it from its holder (it is NOT advisable to do this unless you know what you are doing). A Beckett graded card will NOT sell for the same price as a PSA card with the same grade. For example, the 1973 Topps #1 All-Time Home Run Leaders Ruth/Aaron/Mays above is graded BVG NM-MT 8. The reason I bought it is because it was $100 less than what PSA NM-MT 8 examples were selling for (plus I liked the centering on this card).

• Summary. Beckett Grading Service is NOT the "most trusted accurate and trusted grading in the collectibles industry. All of these grading services provide a good service for the customer. But they are in the business to make money. And indeed, they rake in billions of dollars. But if you are going to spend good money to have cards authenticated and graded, why send your cards to Beckett? The prices are similar, but PSA graded cards realize more when the time comes to sell. Same with SGC, but we will talk about them in a bit. 

"Crossover" - Who's right? Who's wrong? Who knows? 

• Sometimes grading services disagree. This happens all the time. Someone is unhappy with the grade assigned. So they break the card out and send it to a different company hoping to get a better grade. A higher grade usually translates to a higher price. Or, you can send the card in it's holder for another company to review and possibly "CROSSOVER." This 1971 TOPPS 513 NOLAN RYAN SGC NM 7 is an example. I purchased this card already authenticated and graded by SGC. Because PSA graded cards realize a little more (if I decide to sell it, & this is a fairly expensive card), I sent it to PSA for their "Crossover" Service. PSA will review the card to see if it will meet your "minimum" grade ( the lowest PSA grade you are willing to accept). If PSA determines that the card is lower than your minimum, the card remains in the SGC holder and returned to you. If they determine the card is at least your minimum, or higher, they will break it out of it's SGC holder, and go through the PSA processes to get your card documented, slabbed and sent back to you in a new PSA holder (both SGC & Beckett also offer crossover service). Keep in mind this crossover service is not free. Back to the 1971 Topps Ryan card... PSA determined the this card did not meet their "minimum size requirement (they designate this as "N6MINSIZERQ")." So they sent it back to me still in the SGC slab. PSA in this case, does not charge you if the card gets the N6MINSIZERQ designation. So that's cool. But who is right? SGC says the card is NEAR MINT 7. PSA says it is does not meet the minimum size requirement. If I break it out of the SGC holder & send it PSA for grading two things can happen. PSA will not grade it and send it back. You pay normal submission fees. OR they can assign a grade. I can be a crap shoot. I could send it Beckett and they may, or may not assign a graded. So who do I believe? Well, if I have the card in my hands (not slabbed) I would compare it to other standard size cards (2-1/2" x 3-1/2"). If the card measures short, chances are good the card has been deceptively trimmed. In that case no grade could be assigned, it could be deemed AUTHENTIC, but that is all. If the card measures up to all the other cards I've compared it with, then I would have to side with SGC on this. PSA & SGC both have different opinions of this card, and they are paid to do this. Who is right? Who is wrong? As Napoleon Dynamite says to his pal Pedro, "Just follow your heart..."

• Actually PSA made the decision for me. Somewhere in time after the card was reviewed, and the time the card was shipped, the SGC holder suffered severe damage (see pic above). Which means in any case this card is going to get reholstered, at PSA's expense I would imagine. I'm going through their "Quality Assurance" and filed a claim so I'll keep you posted on this ongoing and titillating tale. HAHAHA!

• The bottom line. The bottom line is this: When you use a Professional Authenticator & Grading Service (Beckett, PSA, SGC), you are paying for their unbiased opinion. Most of the time these grading services are accurate, though of course it depends on how much sleep a grader got the night before, or the fact that your bf or gf left you that morning, or maybe they got a letter from the doc saying they have 8 weeks to live. Or maybe the grader got laid the night before and was feeling better than fine. Who knows! You can choose to use these services, or you can choose not to. It's entirely up to you.

Sportscard Guaranty, LLC (SGC)

• I recently submitted (14l cards to SGC for grading. I feel the 1972 Topps 760 Bill Mazeroski (pictured) was given the correct grade. Same with the others, except for one card which I feel was slightly over graded. But that is the thing with grading- it is subjective. Out of the 14 cards I sent, I  think only 1 was slightly off.  I paid for a professional opinion and got it. So I was satisfied with SGC, and have used them on many occasions. Also their Customer Service is actually quite good, certainly superior to PSA. 

SGC has been in business since 1998. There slogan at first was "The first written guaranty in the industry." Which was basically if they messed up they would try and resolve the issue. But really PSA & Beckett have a similar policy- you just have to read the fine print. Also SGC does not have a Collector Club or membership requirement. That is another plus.The prices for submitting cards is similar to the others, but their service is much quicker. SGC came out with better looking holders (in my opinion) than PSA. They have a black insert custom cut to keep your card from moving around (slightly) in the holder. I've seen PSA cards where this has happened. It is because PSA uses generic holders for standard size cards (2-1/2" x 3-1/2"), That does not account for slightly oversize, & slightly undersize cards that came from the factory. The black insert also highlights the card itself.  So, SGC has offered up some serious competition to PSA. 

 I have used SGC many times, including recently (cards were graded within a month). SGC originally used a different number grading scale, which was silly (10 for POOR, 55 for VG-EX, 86 for NM...). However, SGC now uses the common 1-10 grading scale. There are also in-between grades like 3.5 (VG+), 5.5 (EX+), which both PSA and Beckett also use. So it's nice that they are all on the same page now. Another thing SGC did that PSA did not (at the time) was to assign grades WITHOUT "qualifiers." Qualifiers was a term used by PSA, but they are done with qualifiers now. PSA used to designate if a card was severely off-center as being "(OC)." This qualifier would be printed on the PSA label. Other qualifiers PSA used were print defects "(PD)," miscut "(MC)," marked ("MK"), etc. This qualifier would significantly lower the value of the card. SGC did not use these. They would factor those flaws into their final grade. So does Beckett, and now PSA. 

One thing that bothered my about SGC was a lack of finding out what SGC cards are valued at. PSA has a FREE  Price Guide on their website. With SGC you have to PAY for prices and that is plain ridiculous. So I have never used SGC price guides or whatever they call it. I'm happy to use PSA's Price Guide or eBay to get an idea of what my SGC cards should be valued at. And that does not cost me one cent!

• Summary. SGC has great looking holders and a good reputation in the hobby. Generally SGC cards do not sell for PSA prices in the same grade, unless they are centered better & have nicer "eye appeal.". Both SGC & PSA both realize prices higher than Beckett. So overall, I'd rate SGC the TOP service as they can sell for as much as PSA graded cards & their turn-around times & customer service are far superior to PSA (at least for now). I do not recommend Beckett as they got famous for their Price Guides, which were very dealer friendly (they loved to quote the "HIGH" column for prices when generally those were over inflated). Also Beckett at one time had 3 different grading services, when actually ALL cards should be graded equally. Becketts had Beckett Vintage Grading (BVG) for vintage cards, Beckett Grading Service (BGS) for modern cards, AND they also had a ridiculous "Beckett Collector Club Grading (BCCG)" which was a cut-rate service that does nothing to add value to your cards. Essentially you paid a low fee for your card to be authenticated and slabbed. The card was given a general non-specific grade like "Excellent OR BETTER," "Near Mint OR BETTER," etc. That's about it. 

"Other" grading companies you might see on eBay or a card show 

• The following Grading Services are newer, and as such, the verdict is out. Do some research before spending "PSA" type prices for cards graded by other services. A good rule of thumb is NOT to spend "PSA" prices UNLESS YOU ARE BUYING A PSA CARD. Same thing with selling. Don't expect to sell your "other grader" card for the same price as a PSA graded card. It won't happen. There endeth the lesson. 

CSG Certified Sports Guaranty - Newer Grading Service

If I remember correctly, CSG came out before or during the Covid-19 pandemic. PSA was getting deluged with submissions and could not keep up. I read a bit about this new grading service, CSG. The holders looked nice, and from what I understood, the company was relying on technology for grading and its state-of-the-art  holder. So I gave them a shot and sent a few cards in. I had in mind a grade that I assigned to my cards. I wanted to compare my grades with CSG (I usually do this with PSA & SGC). When I got the cards back, the grades were the same as mine; except one. It was a 1962 Topps 313 The Switch Hitter Connects (Mickey Mantle). I had graded it as being EX-MT (6) but CSG graded it NM-MT 8. That is huge jump. I should be dancing the hula and drinking Pina Coladas, right? Not really. I felt the card was overgraded. Which tells me something about that company. Anyway I think I paid $75 for the card (ungraded), paid probably about $25 to have it graded & shipped. I sold it in an auction for $175. So I made about $100 bucks on it. Which is fine with me. But the same card graded PSA NM-MT would sell for a helluva lot more. In fact if I HAD a PSA 8 of that card I would still have it, as I really like that card. Another example is the above 1951 Topps RIngside #49 Bob Murphy. I bought it because I felt the grade was accurate and the card has tremendous eye-appeal. Bright colors, extremely nice centering for that particular card. So, I paid a good price for it. If it were a PSA VG-EX+ 4.5, again, it would sell for more. In this case I feel the grade is right on. So, to make a qualified opinion on CSG, I think time will tell. Many  grading services have come and gone. Personally I think it is a bit late for a new grading service. What can they offer that is new? A lower price? And would a lower price translate to lower grading standards? What I want from a Grading Service, is accurate grading, fair pricing, and if I break even in the long run, I am happy. I am not in this hobby to make money. I am not smart enough to do that. Nor do I like to part with cards! 

• CSG is a newer company and time will tell if this company will succeed, or crash and burn like many others before. It's really too soon to say. I would advise you to check out hobby forums and ask reputable dealers or collector's what they think. Go on eBay and see what CSG cards sell for compared to PSA cards. From what I've seen, CSG graded cards sell for LESS than PSA & SGC graded cards of the same grade. 

• As mentioned above, more than a few Authenticating/Grading services have come and gone. You still find them on eBay; slabbed cards from companies like old Global Authetic Inc. (GAI), which supposedly was started by former PSA graders. There is also a newer Global that may still be active, but they are not in the top 3 reputable services used by most collectors. If the card is graded by a company other than PSA, SGC or Becketts, be very careful because the card was authenticated by a company that is no longer in business. Some of these "services" would authenticate counterfeit cards, which is why they are not around anymore. A service that got into the authenticating/grading game a bit late was Sports Collector's Digest Authentic (SCDA). Now Sports Collector's Digest is a long-time hobby publication that is still popular today. However the grading service was short-lived. I have one SCDA card. To me it seems a bit over-graded. I would not go out of my way to buy a SCDA unless it was a super bargain. You could then send the card to one of the big 3 for their "Crossover" service. 

Nowbatting19.net Grades the Top 3 Grading Services (PSA, SGC, BGS)  "Hold onto your butts!!!"

• How we determine the final grade. We assign a subgrade for 6 criteria, then divide that total by 6. Round off to nearest .5

• Conclusion. Our NUMBER ONE GRADING AUTHENTICATING SERVICE: SGC. It's interesting that SGC actually rates higher than PSA on our list, mostly on the basis that the SGC holders present better, turn-around time is much faster, & customer service is also much better. But if you want to go with the one with generally higher resale value, then PSA will likely be your best bet. Also remember to never  send in cards to be graded that have a lower value than the grading fees you are paying. That is a complete waste of money!

PSA Authentication/Label ERRORS - 1968 Topps 177 Mets Rookie Stars J.Koosman/N.Ryan

Yes PSA, SGC & Beckett DO make labeling errors. But if the errors involve a high dollar card, this can be costly. This is a pretty expensive card to mess up the correct identification on- a 1968 Topps 177 Mets Rookie Stars Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan ROOKIE card. This is an ICONIC card. There are actually 4 different 1968 Topps (related) #177 Mets Rookie Stars issues, 2 of which are from different countries. All have different levels of scarcity, from "common" to rare. The 4 different Ryan Rookie cards are (from "common" to RARE):

• (1) 1968 TOPPS 177 METS ROOKIES (regular), (2) 1968 TOPPS MILTON BRADLEY 177 METS ROOKIES (scarce), (3) 1968 O-PEE-CHEE 177 METS ROOKIES (rare!), & (4) 1968 VENEZUELA TOPPS 177 METS ROOKIES (rarest!). 

So, with that in mind, I just saw this particular card on eBay (3/2023). It is labeled by PSA as a "regular" 1968 Topps 177 Mets Rookie Stars. Wrong! PSA has misidentified this card. It is NOT a regular Topps card! It is actually a 1968 TOPPS MILTON BRADLEY 177 METS ROOKIE STARS JERRY KOOSMAN, NOLAN RYAN (ROOKIE)! BIG difference, both in scarcity & price. The white edge on the right border is a dead giveaway, as is the bright yellow card back. Topps had to create a special 132 card sheet to produce the cards for the Milton Bradley "WIN-A-CARD" board game. The sheet was made up of select 1968 Topps baseball (burlap borders), 1967 Topps Football & 1965 Topps Hod Rod/Custom car cards (both with white borders). Quality control was not a top priority when it came to cutting the cards from the sheets. Most of the 1968 Topps Milton Bradley cards are off-center to some degree, from mild to severe. So if the cards were not cut exactly perfect, the borders of another card would show on one or more edges. This is the white you see on the right edge of the Ryan Rookie above. It is either from a (white border) 1967 Topps Football or '65 Topps Hot Rod/Custom car card. All of the 1968 Topps Milton Bradley cards will have bright yellow card backs, so you won't see white or a partial burlap border on the card backs. If PSA had taken the time to do a little research (which I have done), you can find images of a complete regular Topps baseball 132 card sheet with the Ryan card. The Ryan is surrounded by other regular 1968 Topps cards with the brownish burlap borders. So absolutely NO white should be showing on any of the Ryan card edges! 

Knowing that most 1968 Topps Milton Bradley cards are found with centering problems, PSA could also very well as used a (OC), or "off-center" qualifier, instead of miscut (MC). It is severely off-center, but miscut (MC)?  There are burlap borders on all 4 sides. You could technically say all cards that are "miscut," but the term normally appies to cards that show parts of another card on them. Which this does, but many of the 1968 Topps Milton Bradley cards show parts of another; it's the nature of the beast. It's problematic because of the different cards Topps used on the sheet. I also read that PSA was going to stop using the "qualifiers." If so, this card would grade VG-EX 4 at worse, only because of the centering. If I was head grader at PSA, I would authenticate this card as being a 1968 TOPPS MILTON BRADLEY 177 METS ROOKIE STARS J.KOOSMAN/N.RYAN and I would also assign a PSA VG-EX 4 grade with NO qualifiers. 

This is a disservice to the customer. Because this is without question a 1968 Topps MILTON BRADLEY card, it should sell for a premium ABOVE what a regular Topps Ryan Rookie would sell for. Instead, most who look at the card will say, yep it's a Topps Ryan Rookie, without knowing what it really is! PSA should train their newer graders on how to correctly distinguish between the 2 very different issues. Hopefully they know how to identify the other two. That would be a monumental blunder. PSA has graded 14,500+ regular Topps 177 Mets Rookie Star cards. That is a lot. PSA has also correctly identified 523 1968 TOPPS MILTON BRADLEY 177 METS ROOKIE STARS cards. That is pretty scarce. Even rarer are the 1968 O-PEE-CHEE and 1968 VENEZUELA TOPPS 177 METS ROOKIE STARS cards. PSA has graded only 166 O-Pee-Chee & 33 Venezuelan Topps Ryan Rookies! So get it right PSA! If this was my card, I would send it back to PSA for review. They should correctly identify the card as an authentic 1968 Topps Milton Bradley card. The card should then be corrected in the database, given a correct label, & slabbed. You should not have to pay anything except shipping to/ from PSA. 

• PSA Population Reports as of 3/4/2023

Here is an example of a label error by PSA. Generally no big deal, but you would expect better from the "#1" grading service. The above 1968 Topps 20 Brooks Robinson PSA 4 (Cert. 62373219, above) is NOT a regular Topps card, but rather a far rarer 1968 Topps MILTON BRADLEY card. The card backs on the regular 1968 Topps baseball cards are a "brownish" mustard color. Like Dijon mustard. The 1968 Topps MILTON BRADLEY cards are more of a bright yellow (like regular Heinz Mustard). Big deal, right? 

Well, it kind of is a BIG DEAL. According to PSA's Population Report, they have authenticated/graded only 48 1968 Topps MILTON BRADLEY 20 Brooks Robinson cards. Forty-eight. That is rare. Compare that to the regular 1968 Topps 20 Brooks Robinson. PSA has graded 2,337 examples. Because they are much scarcer than regular Topps cards, the Milton Bradley cards have (or should have) a premium attached. Labeling this card as a regular Topps card is a DISservice to you. When it comes time for you to sell the card, likely someone is going to pay about $15-20 for it. But if PSA had labeled the card correctly, the card would sell for double that, and actually they should be valued at far more than that! If this was a higher grade that would make a significant difference wouldn't you say? This is not the only example of incorrect identification by a grading company. I've seen quite a few examples not only by PSA, but SGC as well (I don't normally deal with Becketts or CSG graded cards). Another common mistake is the Topps & O-Pee-Chee issues. Generally the OPC cards, issued in Canada, are scarcer than their Topps counterparts. This can be a huge difference when it comes to something like a 1968 O-Pee-Chee Nolan Ryan or a 1979 OPC Wayne Gretzky Rookie. These are rare compared to the regular Topps cards. You are talking thousands of dollars difference! So labels should be correct, especially as you are paying good money to have the card authenticated and graded.

• NOTE: PSA WILL reholder the card with a correct label. But you still have to pay shipping to and from PSA. And considering (because of the grade) the card is not "worth" very much, what's the point. I probably will send it in though.  It irritates me that the"almighty" PSA did not give this card it's correct label. The card should be 1968 Topps MILTON BRADLEY 20 Brooks Robinson PSA number 49, NOT number 2,338 (reg. Topps). 

• PSA Population Reports current as of 6/15/2023

SHOCKO (& Awe)

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Another fine mess you've got me into... 

Earlier we showed you an SGC graded  NM 7  1971 Topps 513 Nolan Ryan that was damaged by PSA. I had sent it to PSA for their "Crossover" service, which is basically switching holders. I did this because PSA graded cards generally have a higher resale value than other grading services.  The card was sent back to me in the original SGC holder. PSA had deemed the card as MINSIZRQ (Minimum size requirement), so it was sent back to me unholdered. Which is their opinion. However imagine my surprise when PSA returned the card to me & the SGC holder now had a 2" crack on the front & back of the holder (scroll up to see damaged SGC holder). When I sent the card it had NO cracks, and if PSA had received & inspected it, then why in the world would PSA not mention the damaged holder? Obviously, the card was sent undamaged. I had taken pictures before I sent it, and after I received it back from PSA. The package the card was in was undamaged, so the card had to have been damaged at PSA. I then contacted PSA Customer Service, and they said they had to do an "investigation." About 2 weeks later, they contacted me and said it wasn't their fault. That was their only explanation. What? I contacted PSA again and said this wasn't right. So, what they said is that if I sent the card back to SGC for reholdering, PSA would re-imburse the reholder fee, provided I send PSA the SGC invoice. Fine, but over a month and a half later I have yet to get reimbursed. Supposedly the check was mailed on May 1. I contacted PSA again and inquired about the check. They said it could take up to 30 days, and if I had not received it by then to contact them (yet again). Well, it's been 45 days and counting. No check from PSA. I tried to email the same person I was dealing with (Andrew) and have not heard back. That is not what I call good customer service! ANDREW where is my check! 

The above card was reholdered by SGC and given a new certification number (see image above). I think it was about $20 or $25 for the service. I think SGC is quite a bit speedier than PSA when it comes to "turn-around times." Still waiting on that check from PSA... It's not that much money but it's the lousy service, or lack of it, that has me irritated. PSA damaged the holder to begin with! I had to pay to have it reholdered by SGC, PSA said they would reimburse me and they didn't. All I can say is..."BOOOOOOOO!"