As we sit here watching Bolivia get ripped by a bad call against Chile in the Copa America I wanted to get a post in as I will be out of touch for a little while.
During my most recent episode of great card filing of 2016 I examined our existing Vintage Redbirds and I noted those that we need to upgrade to higher grades and ones we were missing-just to double check. So recently there have been some good auctions of high quality cards at decent prices, well most of the time, on the Bay. So, I have been reviewing the PSA Price Guide to see what those cards would set us back. What I have been trying to figure out is why would someone grade a card that is worth less than the cost of grading ($15 or so?). I thought I might have each team set graded as I complete them. However, at $15 a pop and say 15-20 cards a team set-well you get the idea.
So what my logic has been is to bid graded cards based on their PSA graded value plus a few extra dollars that would allow for the cost of grading.
A card graded as NM-7 (lowest grade I will pick up, generally) with a value of $8 would be a negative $7 since the cost to grade the NM 7 is $15. Math has never been my strong suit but I know that $15-$8 = loss of $7.
As an example I purchased the following PSA Graded 1963 Topps; #49 Dal Maxvill graded a 7 NM for $10.50 and the card is valued at $8-so "loss" of $2.50.
#267 Carl Sawatski is a 7 put me back $6.50 and PSA gives it a value of $8 and this results in a "gain" of $1.50.
#336 Ed Bauta also a 7 which I won for $8.50 and PSA says I paid 50 cents more than its value.
Last but not least, #533 Bobby Shantz Graded an 8 (NM-MT) for $9.54. This card is valued at $22, so a gain of $12.
So why would I pay $15 to grade any of these? The answer is I wouldn't. There are some heavy hitter Redbirds I need and these I will pick up nice graded copies but I am not sending the others in just yet.
