General Forum

One of my summer projects this year is to add detailed notes and images to all the vintage cards in my collection. I've never really given much thought to detailed card grading. If I think a card looks good, I'll add it to my collection. If I don't like how it looks, I'll try and replace it.

That mentality doesn't really fit my current collecting style. As my vintage collection grows, condition is becoming more and more important to me. When common cards are $5-$10 and slight changes in condition can affect value, accurate representation is important. Assessing condition is a skill I need to develop and I would appreciate your feedback on my grading skills (or lack of skill). 

Here's a card from the 1955 Topps Rails & Sails Set that I assess as EX (Excellent) based on the following criteria:

• Visible surface wear and printing defects (There is some ink clumping in several spots)
• Minor chipping on edges (there's no surface loss or dings but some of the "candy-coating" is chipping espially on the right side)
• Focus is slightly out of register (The words "Steam Turbine Loco" have a little shadowing)
• Card may show some off-whiteness of borders (Some graying of borders, espially along the top edge)

In my opinion what keeps this card from being EX-MT is the condition of the corners, especially the top two. The top two corners are beginning to move beyond "light fraying" and are starting to show evidence of "rounding".

Your opinion and feedback would be appreciated. Here's a link to the image of my card on TCDB.

I'd need to look at the back as well before offering a fully valid opinion. :)

I know PSA has a grading guide on their website that we have posted links in several threads here already, which is good enough for the knowledgable collectors that are on here to follow to self-grade. Older copies of Beckett magazines sometimes would print a similar grading guide. I don't have many recent copies (2 in last 7 years) to know if it's a common practice still, but my 3rd most recent one (from 2010) has it. I do believe the 2 are very similar (maybe even the same guidelines).

And as far as your 2-grade system, you're not alone. My cards are either not labeled (acceptable, mostly mint or very close) or marked on my checklists as "Poor" no matter how small the flaw (could grade as EX, but if I don't like it, it's poor), meaning that I wish to replace it with an acceptible version (I won't bother to upgrade to a better poor version).

The back is now posted.

Thanks for the input Dan. I am using PSA's grading guide as a template. However, there is a lot of room for subjectivity.

I'm mostly concerned with accurately representing the cards on my for sale/trade list. For instance, if we were conducting a trade containing this card and I told you that the condition was "EX" would you be satisfied that I correctly represented the card?

vrooomed wrote:

I'd need to look at the back as well before offering a fully valid opinion. :)

I know PSA has a grading guide on their website that we have posted links in several threads here already, which is good enough for the knowledgable collectors that are on here to follow to self-grade. Older copies of Beckett magazines sometimes would print a similar grading guide. I don't have many recent copies (2 in last 7 years) to know if it's a common practice still, but my 3rd most recent one (from 2010) has it. I do believe the 2 are very similar (maybe even the same guidelines).

And as far as your 2-grade system, you're not alone. My cards are either not labeled (acceptable, mostly mint or very close) or marked on my checklists as "Poor" no matter how small the flaw (could grade as EX, but if I don't like it, it's poor), meaning that I wish to replace it with an acceptible version (I won't bother to upgrade to a better poor version).

Yes, there is always a certain level of subjectivity to the grading process, which is what gets collectors in debates over such things.

As I read the description for EX-MT and EX, this card kinda falls in the 2 descriptions pretty easily. The scan doesn't show me the right edge you mention clear enough to decide. I don't think I'd be disappointed if you had called it EX-MT, but it is always better to go lower when selling/trading.

You could always add images to your For Sale/Trade cards.  Especially, those with any condition issues.  Or do what I do.  When a trade is proposed, I provide scans of the cards if they're less than EX-MT.

I'm in the process of adding scans for all my vintage cards as well as adding condition details and notes. Since I'm adding actual images and condition notes to my collection for all of TCDB to see, I would like to know if my opinion of condition is spot-on, in the ballpark, or if I should take up a new hobby ; )

Just looking at the card images, and based on my own experience and interpretation, I would agree with your initial assessment of EX. Whenever I list a card for sale on EBay, I conservatively grade and add a plus (eg. EX+). The condition is stated as Excellent or better condition. I've never had complaints about misleading condition. 

For a personal collection, you could also use the minus (-). A card slightly less than EX would be EX-. It's an option to consider if you want to be more conservative with a card you weren't quite sure. As others have pointed out, grading is somewhat subjective. As long as you are consistent in grading your collection, you'll know which cards you want to upgrade, and which meet your collection standards.

Anyway, to get to the point, I'd say your opinion of condition is spot-on.

this card is vgex to me the bottom corners are a little too rounded and worn to be called ex in my opinion (and I assign condition to my vintage cards regularly)

mark