getting cards graded

[Bikeage77]

have any of you ever gone through this process? my step father passed away and my mom let me go through his card collection and told me i could take any cards that stood out. i came across some pretty nice cards including 3 50s era hank aarons, a 55 jackie robinson, 2 bowman mickey mantles, among others. there's a few binders of 50's football cards too, though i don't know much about them. i also came across rookie cards of bench, gwynn, winfield, ripken, molitor, and sandberg.

 

while looking at ebay i noticed people bid on these older cards that aren't graded, but the value isn't nearly as high as the ones that are (especially once you get into the 70's and 80's). i don't plan on selling these, but i'd like to have a better estimate of their worth. some i believe are in great condition (unfortunately the mantle second year bowman has the top layer of the card missing in one corner)...

 

these are my main questions:

so is this an expensive process? is there a place in the milwaukee area i can go, or do i ship them? can i go to a local store and have them tell me what cards they think should be graded and which ones shouldn't be?

 

any help is greatly apprecieated!

[Kelbysdaddy]

beckett is the most credible grader. i prefer my graded cards from beckett. its not cheap though. old cards will sell much better with a good grade. here is a link to becketts grading rates- http://www.beckett.com/gr...icing.asp?&eskin=beckett . psa is also good for vintage and would cost a few bucks less. beckett has the best looking slabs(in my opinion) and seems to be the best sellers. the best thing for you might be to pick up a couple cheap graded cards and compare condition. a good card shop could also give you a grade estimate. there is also a card show coming up at gonzaga hall in milwaukee on sept. 11. i'm sure there would be someone there that could help you(if you dont know much about cards- dont tell them that, you might get taken). any more question, send me a pm. hope this helps-kevin

[rwa12]

PSA or Beckett are the way to go. If things haven't changed, PSA requires a membership. I think it's around $100, but you get 6 gradings with it, may be different now, not sure. Grading helps value certainly, it also gives buyers a better feeling about the cards not being altered or fake. Unless they are high dollar cards, it may not be worth the effort. Can you give specifics of the cards, maybe a scan or photo? Aaron cards from the 50s can vary greatly in value. Beckett is very tough on their vintage grading. I have a '58 Maris RC that would most likely be a PSA 7, that is a BVG 5.5 . Look at them with a critical eye for centering and corners. A popular thought usually with vintage, is that "it looks good for being XX years old". Graders don't really give the age any weight, they judge the condition as if it was new. Grading is mostly done by mail submission, some card shows will have graders; if they aren't PSA, SGA or Beckett, don't waste your money.

If you can post a list of the cards with exact years, and a rough idea of what you think the condition is, I'd be happy to give you my thoughts on whether to grade them or not!

Rob

[Bikeage77]

thanks Kevin, Brian, and Rob for all your help. I'll post some of the standout cards later. I used a PSA price guide as I went through some of these. They went down to PSA 5, and I used grading 5-7 that as my base. Anything extra would be fantastic. I think some are 8's, and would be stoked as 9's. Because I don't know what a 50's card looks like brand new, and knowing they are probably impossible to come by, I only looked at the 10's as a "holy smokes!" I will write up all the notables when I get a chance.

[jnorman76]

One quick note ... even commons in outstanding conditions bring good money.

 

I would honestly go to one of the shows (like the Sun-Times at Rosemont or the National), where the graders are on site. It's a bit more expensive, but I never let my cards go through the mail.