higher end card grading tips/advice

[oilfan69]

I would like to get these cards graded.
I'm in canada, is it fine to use mnt or ksa if my plan is to just hold on to them.
The Gretzky RC I bought in 2012 from someone on ebay with 100% feedback and they still sell vintage cards and other stuff. however, I cant be 100% certain that is authentic until someone professional looks at it.
what should i put for value? maximum to insure is 5000, which would cost about 100-150 just for return insurance, or would you just put tracking and wait for them to arrive back.
I calculated with ksa to grade these 5 cards(without insurance) would be $220 plus tax for the express service.
What would you knowledgeable people do

[Fred Bear]

Personally, I wouldn't grade high end with KSA, but that's me. Unless you are really worried that the Gretzky is not authentic (or there is a major flaw), PSA is the choice based on the market. I can understand if you're just going to keep it for your collection, but do you really need it slabbed? Again, I'm biased to the market on the 'elite' cards. KSA 5 = $1500US PSA 5 = $3000US (equivalent to a KSA 7)

[Savard18]

Personally, I wouldn't grade high end with KSA, but that's me. Unless you are really worried that the Gretzky is not authentic (or there is a major flaw), PSA is the choice based on the market. I can understand if you're just going to keep it for your collection, but do you really need it slabbed? Again, I'm biased to the market on the 'elite' cards. KSA 5 = $1500US PSA 5 = $3000US (equivalent to a KSA 7)

Agreed, however PSA has consistency issues to say the least. I mean they're getting really strict now. They were really liberal/lax for many years and now with the card boom they've become really strict because higher grade cards aren't as exceptional as they used to be. There are many videos on youtube of collectors cracking slabs and resubmitting cards to check for consistency and it's troubling to say the least, and it's not only PSA. There is a video where this collector sends his McDavid YG to BGS, he gets a 9, then he cracks the slab on camera, sends it to PSA - it comes back a 7.5. That's just unacceptable I mean if it came back an 8.5 or even an 8, sure ok I could understand that but a 7.5? as you're aware that's a huge difference in value. And IMO, they're only doing this because they want to keep 9's and higher "special"... Obviously this probably wont affect the grade on these, but it could and it's certainly something to consider before you commit to having cards slabbed.. Because the grades are going to bottleneck somewhere, PSA just doesn't want it to be at the top...

And yea, I agree - if you're just going to keep the cards in the PC then why have them slabbed? especially when you factor the cost and turnaround time, well unless that's what he wants of course, lol... Whatever tho I wouldn't have them slabbed, at least not now. Not only that but if I wanted to have PC cards slabbed I'd go with an alternative to PSA... The only time I would go with PSA is if I intend to sell cards, because obviously PSA is the gold standard of the industry (unfortunately) hence there is a margin in value between a PSA 9 and say a BGS 9, it's unfortunate but it's true... And keep in mind you can always get it slabbed by PSA if plans for the cards change... So if I wanted to have the Gretzky slabbed for authentication purposes then I would just go with BGS/BVG or even KSA because PSA is going to cost a lot and it's going to take forever for the cards to return, so is it really worth it for PC cards? not only that but what if you get a grade that you're not satisfied with? that's even more money and time. And like I pointed out - PSA has had a lot of complaints as of lately.. Obviously I don't have his Gretzky in front of me but from the pics the card doesn't have a whole lot of wear on it, I mean there's a little but it doesn't take much to scuff up the borders on those 79-80's so from a physical perspective the cards in nice shape - obviously there are centering issues and light wear on the corners - nothing significant, I mean based on the pics I'd say it's a 7 but factoring how PSA has been grading cards recently it could realistically come back a 5 or 5.5, and that wouldn't be good and if that was my card I would object, and that's primarily why I would go with an alternative or not have it graded period - the "ifs" outweigh any sort of security that comes with having the cards slabbed.

Just my .02 cents.

[MR.M's Cards]

nothing wrong with KSA for PC cards they display nice. I would pass on the express service and just have patience until you get them back. You could also look at submitting them in person if that is an option....the fall expo for example.

[oilfan69]

I sent the gretzky rc and 2 mcdavid yg cards to ksa for the 6 day service, total was $120(40x3)+$20(return shipping)+ $22(1000 insurance)+$8(GST) for $170 total. now wait for them to come back, fingers crossed.