The Value Of Professional Grading In Sports Card Collecting Explained

If you are new to the hobby of sports card collecting, it may do you good if you are aware of the value of professional grading in sports card collecting. Buyers are always left in doubt if they paid perhaps too much for a card had it not been for the services offered by neutral third party professional graders.

Value Of Professional Grading In Sports Card Collecting

In earlier days it was a headache to many people who traded sports cards or bought sports cards from others as there was initially no set standard and buyers bought cards based on their condition and appearance. People realized the need for a proper grading system to be in place and in the early 1990's many enterprising professional grading firms offered relief to customers who had their cards professionally graded as they understood the value of professional grading in sports card collecting.

You may get a gist of the value of professional grading in sports card collecting when people trade and buy professionally graded cards without even seeing the cards actually! Professional grading firms such as PSA, SGC etc. have made a name for themselves as professional card graders in the vintage card sections. Beckett has also been regarded as a great firm to grade modern cards.

The professional graders give the cards a thorough examination and grade them numerically. They charge about $5-$20 for each card they grade. A card with no flaw can be certified as 10 Gem Mint, a card with tiny print or color imperfections can be graded as 9 Mint. Cards are thus graded and the lower their grade the lower their worth. No matter how rare or ancient a card it will not be worth much if it has been graded low professionally by the professionals, such is the value of professional grading in sports card collecting. The lowest grade is 1 Poor which means that card is of not much value at all due to its spoilt condition or defects.

Cards that have been graded as 10 may cost nearly 20 times as the same grade 8 or mint condition card and this is just an example to help you understand the value of professional grading in sports card collecting.

Many card collectors opt to exclusively buy professionally graded cards as they are able to buy and sell the cards with confidence. Un-graded cards cannot expect to fetch as much as their graded counter parts. It is a fact that at times even professional graders do commit mistakes, but such cases are rare. If you understood the value of professional grading in sports card collecting you may end up building quite a collection of professionally graded sports cards.

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