Years ago, after becoming an "adult", I realized I could start buying the cards I longed for as a kid. I saw the difference in the price of PSA 10 vs PSA 9 and thought, "A 9 is still MINT condition, I don't need the 10." And was able to buy a lot more of my favorite cards because of that decision.
GemMint is the biggest scam in the hobby. Mint was always the gold standard in collectibles before there sports card grading companies created this artificial high end market with the GemMint. I collect like you do as my motto. Is, “A 9 is fine”. We have a Mint collection of cards, and the Rolen PSA 10 vs 9 example of centering that Chris shows in the video confirms my opinion of PSA 10 cards.
And this absolutely speaks to my philosophy as a collector. If I have a valued and treasured card in raw form that looks gem mint to me I'll leave it that way. Having it graded and coming back a 9 only diminishes it. Throw in the cost of grading and that makes that 9 even worse. I have bought some 9s and 10s but I'm happy with my raw collection too. I'm a collector saving money and working on a limited budget. Great video that leaves one to pause and consider.
Great video showing why you treat grading your junk wax cards the same as a lotto ticket. Get a 10 you win, get a 9 you lose. As a collector of junk wax, I have all of these cards raw.
Great! Now the power of the Sewall bump! All 9's will go up in price. He knows what he's doing to influence the market!!! This how he can afford his "international move!" International man of mystery more like! Lol
I've been collecting sports cards for 30yrs now and have never bought a 10. I only buy psa 9s and sometimes 8s. The cost of psa 10s to me is extreme. A psa 9 card is considered mint and that's what matters to me. On any given day a 9 can be a 10 and a 10 can be a 9 depending on the grader that's grading the card. I'm surprised more people don't appreciate psa 9s more considering that it means the cards Mint! Also feel the gap in price between the two is far to large. Thanks for the content!
Perhaps the extreme case.... 1980 Ricky Henderson.... ......pas9 - $125,000 After watching many RUclips PSA submittal videos and seeing beautiful, flawless cards graded 9 or even 8 I have wondered why any COLLECTOR would ever bother buying a 10. I'm glad I am not alone.
Thanks for the great video. Save even more and have it raw in a top loader if you are a collector. "Modern" graded cards are specifically for monetary reasons - not that there is anything wrong with that. Have a great one!
Since I don't resell I shop the card and most times I pay less then the grading fees. I just love having all the rookie cards that i couldn't get when I was a kid. For example I just bought a Bo Jackson 87 Donruss psa 8 for less then 20.00 with shipping.
LOVE the 87 Donruss set and the Bo in that set is awesome. Nice grab. 87 Donruss is also notorious for difficulty in high grade because of the dark borders, so an 8 is a nice score.
Love Bo, I tend to always lose the Bo auction though, even the 9's, but I know I am trying to steal it and pay next to nothing so lols, still fun though.
I have a TON of PSA 9's (in a few eras) and, for some odd reason, SGC 4's (almost all vintage of course). Eye appeal is important for me, but always different from person to person. I don't mind something slightly off centered as long as the corners are sharp and it doesn't have any noticeable print defects. Or if it does have print defects, I prefer it to be better centered. Just some tradeoffs that we all go through as collectors.
I’m on board! I buy 9s almost exclusively. 10s are cool and I’ll buy em but I won’t pay some insane premium for them. A 9 can be a 10 and a 10 can be a 9.
I collect hockey but I've done a similar thing. For modern I target PSA 9s, and for older stuff (70s-80s) I target mostly 8s, or in the case of certain cards, as high a grade as I'm comfortable paying for.
I had 100s of cards graded from my collection, mostly junk wax era, in the last 2-3 years. I sold most of the PSA 10s, all the basketball, kept a few 10s and bought 50s mid grade baseball HOFers. The 10s are creating false scarcity, when you often can’t tell the difference between a 9 and a 10.
This!!! Great topic Chris, and exposing one of the great myths in collecting. Unless you are a high end dealer or rich 10s are overpriced and irrelevant. 9s are great for 80s and up and most of the time you couldn’t tell the difference. For vintage I simply go with a “collectors grade” of 7 for 70s, 6 for 60s, and so on. Obviously for the big ticket players you get whatever you can afford. Even if you’re a collector who wants to maintain value in your collection, get the grade right before the biggest price jump. Off the top of my head I think of the SP Jeter. I would buy the PSA8 at $600. 90% or more of collectors aren’t going to dish out the $8000 for a 9, so if you ever wanted to move it, that 8 grade is going to be in high demand for the largest swath of buyers. Just my perspective and opinion, but great stuff!
This is really good info. I agree totally when collecting with the 9. I always just get a card first and then later just be patient and get a better one later in life.
I wish this topic would come up more often. I always been just a collector and seems to me without collectors then the hobby would just be dealers passing cards back and forth. I loads of pete alonso rookie cards and only 2 psa 10s. 10s are for investors and everything else is for the rest of us
Hey Chris. Your channel is outstanding. Not only do you have an incredible amount of knowledge about the hobby, but it seems like you’ve gained a ton of respect from the hobbyists. Have a safe move. Hope to meet you at a show one day!
Well, I can’t argue with that logic. I have only one PSA 10 that I couldn’t pass up.....a 1992 Upper Deck Bird/Jordan fanimation. It was too good of a deal. I HAD TO HAVE IT!
Great and well thought out video. I would go one step further and look at very nice raw cards of the same players. I am sure the value for your dollar would be staggering!
I do the same thing. A PSA 9 is perfect for me if I’m buying personal collection cards. The 10 is exclusively for flipping or selling later on. At the end the day, the question is are you a collector or an investor :-) The Grade should never matter
More than half the people in this hobby collect plastic and what's typed on the paper slip in the plastic than they do cards. Buying / getting 10s is all that matters to them, as long as the slab tells them it's a "10".
It always amazes me when I goto a local show and I’m looking to sell my doubles to dealers. They don’t even look at the card, if it’s a PSA 9, they look up comps for a PSA 9 and that’s their comp price. It could under graded or over graded, and all that matters is the PSA grade.
Great video Chris. A picture does paint 1000 words. That’s an amazing comparison. I tend to go for the highest grade possible but in this instance would absolutely take the PSA 9’s over the single PSA 10.
You could afford those 9s for the price of the Kirby 10 and probably also throw in base RC 9s of Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire, Gonzalez, Lofton, Palmeiro ……
I agree with buying 9's to stretch my hobby dollars and many of the Wander franco cards I have are 9's with some 10's I got at a fair price, My channel shows the slabs I have gotten since getting back into cards in the fall of 2021. nice video Chris and good luck with another move!
I collect Gold Parallel RC from base Topps. I specifically look for 9 or 8 before I get a 10. I buy PSA cards for the protection of the borders. Then i buy raw gold copies and grade them. If i get a 10 i sell it, buy the 9 and make some money. Its so easy.
You can expand this idea even more when considering raw cards instead of graded. I’ve never really cared about cards being graded and it’s saved me money on cards I want.
I'm surprised they haven't started grading in the fractions - 9.2, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8. Comics grade in this fashion and the difference in price just between the fractional grades can be huge.
I primarily buy 9s. The exception is if it's a low pop. The 2004 Topps finest Jersey refractor of Tom Brady is a pop 6 in a PSA 9 with 7 higher. After missing out on 3 of the 9s on eBay (half the PSA 9 pop) I caved and paid more for a 10. Also not all 9s are created equal. I've had some with noticeable scratches and print lines. Some are definitely over graded. On more than one occasion I've sold a PSA 9 just to rebuy a different one.
Just bought my top 25 favorite 79 and 80 topps stars in PSA 9 in lieu of 10 because want to stare at them on the wall in my office rather then go broke on PSA 10's i never plan to re-sell...thanks for the vid..
Collecting PSA 9s for hall of farmers is a great strategy. I also like to find my PC players in PSA 10 for their less expensive non-rookies. I will put the first bid in and set the max bid at $20 or $30 and then just see what I end up winning. I have ended up with a ton of cheap PSA 10 Griffeys, Jrods, Lillards, Carrs, and other guys in my PC. Most of these I would have never sought out individually but are nice editions for my PC.
Fantastic video. One of your best and that's saying a whole lot. You could have added Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and Clemens and still stayed under the $725. So I think you made a REALLY compelling case that for a collector with a reasonable budget, the PSA 9s are a MUCH better value. But here's another question... Which would be a better INVESTMENT long term? Tough one but I'm going with the PSA 9s. To me there is a much better chance that a lot of those cards double in price (from say $10-12 to $20-30) compared to hoping that the Puckett doubles in price to $1500. I could very well be wrong. But at the very least those 9s should hold their value. I fear that may not be the case on that Puckett
I’ve been doing this since I started rebuilding my collection! I started buying raw but then saw that a few more dollars I could get PSA 9s better investment no grading fees and I know I’m getting a good quality card in a PSA slab! But I’ve also started buying SCG and CSG 9,9.5&10s because I’m a collector the card is still graded and looks as good and also I’ll buy the CSG Green Label 9.5s and then when I get several others I want I’ll send them in and get them back as 10s and the price is the same or in CSG way less most of the time! I’m looking at two what looks to be future HOFs RC now in green label 9.5s for $18 each one a 1st Bowman Chr. And Bowman’s Best. I’m my eyes as a collector I’m getting more Value for my money! And I may try to crack and get PSAs 10 one day but I’m not interested in selling them! I’m a Pure Collector And Love My Cards, The Game of Baseball And The Hobby Of Collecting Cards!!! Nice video Chris!
This is exactly what we do for my RC PC for Kobe and my son’s Derek Jeter PC, PSA 9s. Except the 93 SP Foil, still looking for a quality PSA 8. Great video.
Great video and excellent point. As a few people have noted, would be interesting to see how prices changed in 9s vs 10s over time. Would also be curious to see how much those same cards would cost raw. Probably $1-$3 each - with less paid for taxes and shipping. Maybe $35-50 for all?
I sent my 1980 topps scoring leaders Bird Magic rookie card to psa knowing without a doubt that it would grade out to be a 7 just to authenticate the card. My card came back way better than I expected!
I been a card collector since Wayne Gretzky’s second year card came out.. and I still don’t own a single graded card. Most people are buying the grade and NOT the card.
Expand your hobby dollar even more by buying raw or if you do buy graded get SGC or CSG because you can get those for far cheaper than PSA. You're just paying for the name on the slab.
I look at it like this. 10’s are for resale value. 9’s and lower are for the PC. I rarely buy a 10. The majority of my 10’s are from cards I had graded myself. Since I am mostly into vintage now, 10’s really don’t exist anyway.
I've actually been buying HOF rookies in 8s however I'm buying all tiffany, glossy, opc, leaf etc. When the younger kids grow up they'll see card collecting through the lens of parallels. What's rarer an 88 fleer smoltz gem mint or an 88 fleer glossy smoltz in an 8? Because I can get the glossy for $25.
If anyone had money to burn it would be interesting to see a video of cracking all those 9s And sending them back in to get graded to see how many if any come back as 10s. It seems that if you got 1 or 2 it would pay for the fees and then some
You have to pay some company $40 or more too grade a card, I have two eyes I can look at a card and tell whether it's well center and sharp corners and no creases.
I understand you can maximize your cardboard by buying 9s but having 10s to me is more important. Also, if you want top dollar for your investment, then 10s are the way to go. Most older collectors aren't trading, they just want what they want.
whats even crazier is that if you take out the rivera from the right side, you're at almost half of the cost of the PSA 10 puckett. idk what the dollar per war would equal out to, but i doubt you could do much better for anything less than 400 bucks.
Not disagreeing with you and Mike. But I always believe in buying the best you can afford for your collection. As collectors we get into this mentality as buy for your enjoyment vs not wanting to look like an investor which I don’t understand. We eventually have to sell or let go of our collection whether it’s because of financial reasons or mortality. Why not take the chance of maximizing that when you get the chance. I also think this might be a good topic to talk about in a podcast? It would be way too long here in the comments section.
Seems like you are just an "investor". I have bought more than a few cards that have no real value other than I had them as a kid and wanted them back. Being a true collector is a real thing.
Great thoughts! Every collector has their own quarks. I’m pretty sure Mike only collects PSA graded cards or prefers them over SGC. From my standpoint, I have no preference in grading company or holder. You can acquire a lot of nice pieces if you can control your OCD on many levels 😂.
Gr8 common sense video Chris..🤔😝 I've always said a little bit goes a long way..😍😉 Thanks for sharing your thoughts also comparing prices of PSA 10's compared to the PSA 9's.. Happy Memorial Day.. Take care..👍💕🔥👊
@@collectorinvestordealer Thanks...I think you're right, though haven't done the math to confirm. Don't mean to be a contrarian (excellent video and discussion) but for some collectors interested in handing off a more manageable and valuable set of cards to the next generation, the emphasis on quality over quantity may be the way to go. One could do both...using the "9s approach for sports or eras that you are most interested in as a collector" and the "10's approach" to a find a few high end examples of cards from sports or eras of relevance but less immediate interest...
With the trimming scandal surfacing again after the Evan Mathis trimming video, I have a whole different take towards the PSA 9 vs 10 debate. What grade do you think is more apt to be trimmed? The PSA 10 cards. That’s why I always choose a PSA 9 (alittle off center) over a perfectly centered PSA 10 card. Then add in the much cheaper cost of the 9 and it’s no brainer. I honestly don’t trust any PSA 10 modern card or perfectly centered vintage card. Now I’m not saying they are all trimmed, but it’s exactly how I felt during the Steroid era in Baseball. Not everyone was juicing, but I was suspicious of anyone hitting 50+ Homeruns a year from that era.
My man! Always appreciate the content. But if I may be so bold, would have loved to see more pea 10 vs 9 comparisons. I know your research department is vast so I love seeing values like that and I don’t have to utilize my research department which is suspect at best. Would have been nice also to see which had the biggest gaps and smallest gaps between 9s and 10s. Anywho great stuff as always just a recommendation for future research department deployments. Grassyas$
While I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment of this video, I’m gonna play devils advocate and take it a step further. Specifically let’s look at all of those cards from about 87-early 90s, junk era. You can buy the 10s for hundreds of dollars, the 9s for 10s of dollars, or a beautiful looking raw version for a dollar or two. This is why I don’t collect graded. Even the Kirby rookie, should be able to find a real sharp looking one for about $15. Randy Johnsons, Biggios etc? $1.
I buy 10s on the couple guys that I love for example Nolan Arenado. Ill take 9s on the rest due to just wanting the card in my pc at the cheaper price point . Collecting 10s for Hofers if you have the cash flow would be awesome but lets be honest most of us mortals are on budgets.
85 - 92 junk wax era, the one time slot in cards, where you want/need to own a 10 if you don't want to take a financial loss on your card when you sell it, even years later.
Really appreciate the info that you provided in this video. This question might not apply so much to this video, and you've likely answered somewhere else, but do you use a jeweler's loupe before you send cards in to be graded? Thanks Chris
This video was very good. I would love you to do another video. You pretend that you buy 20 cards at the 10 price and also the 9 price. You pretend you bought these cards 10 years ago. Now what are all the cards selling for today, 10 years later? Have the 10’s gone up at a much higher rate than the 9’s? Or are the 9’s doing as well or better?
I feel the grading is very suspect these days with all the different graders. I do not buy cards online as I have to really get a close look at what I buy now days. I am into mid-grade vintage cards. Even with those the grading is all over the place. I've seen many 5's that look a look nicer than cards getting 7's.
What is crazy to me is that almost all of the cards even graded a 9 sell for far less then the PSA $19 grading cost even if you are a $100 a year collectors club member! Like why would anyone even send those cards in to be graded. PSA needs to lower their fees for real. Card gets graded a 9 from that era and it sells for half of the grading cost/ Thats absurd. If PSA wants to continue to have real business they are gonna need to knock down the grading costs to like $10 a card. I have all of these cards and i know all of them are a 9 and some would be a 10 but why send them in. If they all get 9s i lose money, alot especially after shipping there and back and insurance. The difference between 9s and 10s cannot be seen with the naked eye at all.
Could the same be said for buying 10s from csg or scg or bgs? They could be as nice as a 10 with psa, for a fraction of the cost. Thanks for the great videos.
Ive always said theres no visual differences in a PSA9 or PSA10. The price differences have never made any sense to me. People are literally paying for the label at PSA10 prices. Chances are, they could buy a PSA9 to crack and resubmit for a chance at a PSA10.
Tiffany are criminally undervalued. So few printed of mega stars…. Look at Griffey…. 6,000 bowman tiffany, 15,000 topps tiffany, and 30,000 fleer glossy. That’s nothing compared to the upper deck which is still being printed 😂😂😂…. Some bright spots of the junk wax era!!!
Is there a possibility of a market correction on PSA 9's to get closer to a 10 value. 15 times difference seems like a pretty large delta for one spot off in grading.
I've been buying a lot of 9s if there is a big gap. Like current player rookies of Ohtani and Acuna. The gap between 10s and 9s is nonsense. Easy future money to be made.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Years ago, after becoming an "adult", I realized I could start buying the cards I longed for as a kid. I saw the difference in the price of PSA 10 vs PSA 9 and thought, "A 9 is still MINT condition, I don't need the 10." And was able to buy a lot more of my favorite cards because of that decision.
GemMint is the biggest scam in the hobby. Mint was always the gold standard in collectibles before there sports card grading companies created this artificial high end market with the GemMint. I collect like you do as my motto. Is, “A 9 is fine”. We have a Mint collection of cards, and the Rolen PSA 10 vs 9 example of centering that Chris shows in the video confirms my opinion of PSA 10 cards.
I have same mentality. 9s are still mint!!
I learned from you a long time ago, "Buy the card, not the grade". Best advice I have ever heard for my card collecting. Thanks for the great content!
And this absolutely speaks to my philosophy as a collector. If I have a valued and treasured card in raw form that looks gem mint to me I'll leave it that way. Having it graded and coming back a 9 only diminishes it. Throw in the cost of grading and that makes that 9 even worse. I have bought some 9s and 10s but I'm happy with my raw collection too. I'm a collector saving money and working on a limited budget. Great video that leaves one to pause and consider.
Great video showing why you treat grading your junk wax cards the same as a lotto ticket. Get a 10 you win, get a 9 you lose. As a collector of junk wax, I have all of these cards raw.
Great! Now the power of the Sewall bump! All 9's will go up in price. He knows what he's doing to influence the market!!!
This how he can afford his "international move!" International man of mystery more like! Lol
Most of those 9s are less than the cost of grading. Great video, Chris! That 10 Rolen is definitely OC. Have a safe and easy move.
Psa allows 60/40 and still considers it gem worthy. Makes no sense
@@beliedat2457 eye appeal of a card starts with the centering. if its not centered, its not gem mint
@@golfmaniac007 and I’ll repeat that PSA allows 60/40 for gem mint 10s. You are factually incorrect. Your opinion doesn’t matter against facts.
@@beliedat2457 LOL..PSA is just a grading opinion from a third party. nothing factual about that.
Great video Chris. Glad our conversation inspired you to actually do the research on a topic I long knew to be true, but never put pen to paper on it.
I've been collecting sports cards for 30yrs now and have never bought a 10. I only buy psa 9s and sometimes 8s. The cost of psa 10s to me is extreme. A psa 9 card is considered mint and that's what matters to me. On any given day a 9 can be a 10 and a 10 can be a 9 depending on the grader that's grading the card. I'm surprised more people don't appreciate psa 9s more considering that it means the cards Mint! Also feel the gap in price between the two is far to large. Thanks for the content!
Perhaps the extreme case....
1980 Ricky Henderson....
......pas9 - $125,000
After watching many RUclips PSA submittal videos and seeing beautiful, flawless cards graded 9 or even 8 I have wondered why any COLLECTOR would ever bother buying a 10. I'm glad I am not alone.
Good video. I'll go one step further than just saying not everything needs to be a 10, and say not everything needs to be graded at all!
Thanks for the great video. Save even more and have it raw in a top loader if you are a collector. "Modern" graded cards are specifically for monetary reasons - not that there is anything wrong with that. Have a great one!
Since I don't resell I shop the card and most times I pay less then the grading fees. I just love having all the rookie cards that i couldn't get when I was a kid. For example I just bought a Bo Jackson 87 Donruss psa 8 for less then 20.00 with shipping.
LOVE the 87 Donruss set and the Bo in that set is awesome. Nice grab. 87 Donruss is also notorious for difficulty in high grade because of the dark borders, so an 8 is a nice score.
Love Bo, I tend to always lose the Bo auction though, even the 9's, but I know I am trying to steal it and pay next to nothing so lols, still fun though.
I have a TON of PSA 9's (in a few eras) and, for some odd reason, SGC 4's (almost all vintage of course). Eye appeal is important for me, but always different from person to person. I don't mind something slightly off centered as long as the corners are sharp and it doesn't have any noticeable print defects. Or if it does have print defects, I prefer it to be better centered. Just some tradeoffs that we all go through as collectors.
I’m on board! I buy 9s almost exclusively. 10s are cool and I’ll buy em but I won’t pay some insane premium for them. A 9 can be a 10 and a 10 can be a 9.
Secrets out. I love that card collecting is 100% capitalist and free market. This info just created a new market
I collect hockey but I've done a similar thing. For modern I target PSA 9s, and for older stuff (70s-80s) I target mostly 8s, or in the case of certain cards, as high a grade as I'm comfortable paying for.
I had 100s of cards graded from my collection, mostly junk wax era, in the last 2-3 years. I sold most of the PSA 10s, all the basketball, kept a few 10s and bought 50s mid grade baseball HOFers. The 10s are creating false scarcity, when you often can’t tell the difference between a 9 and a 10.
This!!! Great topic Chris, and exposing one of the great myths in collecting. Unless you are a high end dealer or rich 10s are overpriced and irrelevant. 9s are great for 80s and up and most of the time you couldn’t tell the difference.
For vintage I simply go with a “collectors grade” of 7 for 70s, 6 for 60s, and so on. Obviously for the big ticket players you get whatever you can afford.
Even if you’re a collector who wants to maintain value in your collection, get the grade right before the biggest price jump. Off the top of my head I think of the SP Jeter. I would buy the PSA8 at $600. 90% or more of collectors aren’t going to dish out the $8000 for a 9, so if you ever wanted to move it, that 8 grade is going to be in high demand for the largest swath of buyers.
Just my perspective and opinion, but great stuff!
Excellent video. I liked how you showed many cards so quickly at the current prices. Exactly what I’m interested in since I have so many vintage cards
This is really good info. I agree totally when collecting with the 9. I always just get a card first and then later just be patient and get a better one later in life.
I wish this topic would come up more often. I always been just a collector and seems to me without collectors then the hobby would just be dealers passing cards back and forth. I loads of pete alonso rookie cards and only 2 psa 10s. 10s are for investors and everything else is for the rest of us
I bought a Alonso 10 base RC accidentally before the season. It's literally one of the only 10s I own.
Hey Chris. Your channel is outstanding. Not only do you have an incredible amount of knowledge about the hobby, but it seems like you’ve gained a ton of respect from the hobbyists. Have a safe move. Hope to meet you at a show one day!
Great video as usual. Really puts things into perspective. Thanks
Well, I can’t argue with that logic. I have only one PSA 10 that I couldn’t pass up.....a 1992 Upper Deck Bird/Jordan fanimation. It was too good of a deal. I HAD TO HAVE IT!
Great and well thought out video. I would go one step further and look at very nice raw cards of the same players. I am sure the value for your dollar would be staggering!
I do the same thing. A PSA 9 is perfect for me if I’m buying personal collection cards. The 10 is exclusively for flipping or selling later on. At the end the day, the question is are you a collector or an investor :-) The Grade should never matter
Nice video!!! I have recently been thinking about downgrading some of my 10s LOL for this exact reason! Might be selling using hoodies soon :)
More than half the people in this hobby collect plastic and what's typed on the paper slip in the plastic than they do cards. Buying / getting 10s is all that matters to them, as long as the slab tells them it's a "10".
It always amazes me when I goto a local show and I’m looking to sell my doubles to dealers. They don’t even look at the card, if it’s a PSA 9, they look up comps for a PSA 9 and that’s their comp price. It could under graded or over graded, and all that matters is the PSA grade.
Great video Chris. A picture does paint 1000 words. That’s an amazing comparison. I tend to go for the highest grade possible but in this instance would absolutely take the PSA 9’s over the single PSA 10.
9s are still Mint! I also like buying SGC 9.5s because they are usually at a good price point in comparison to PSA 10s.
You could afford those 9s for the price of the Kirby 10 and probably also throw in base RC 9s of Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire, Gonzalez, Lofton, Palmeiro ……
Great informational piece here - Well done.
I agree with buying 9's to stretch my hobby dollars and many of the Wander franco cards I have are 9's with some 10's I got at a fair price, My channel shows the slabs I have gotten since getting back into cards in the fall of 2021. nice video Chris and good luck with another move!
I remember collecting in the 90s! Ty for showing....Grading is such a sham!!!!! Geez.....
Mariano Rookie , in a rare set , only rookie , under $100 .... that's a good investment, excellent video Chris , Thanks !
I collect Gold Parallel RC from base Topps. I specifically look for 9 or 8 before I get a 10. I buy PSA cards for the protection of the borders. Then i buy raw gold copies and grade them. If i get a 10 i sell it, buy the 9 and make some money. Its so easy.
You can expand this idea even more when considering raw cards instead of graded. I’ve never really cared about cards being graded and it’s saved me money on cards I want.
I'm surprised they haven't started grading in the fractions - 9.2, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8. Comics grade in this fashion and the difference in price just between the fractional grades can be huge.
I primarily buy 9s. The exception is if it's a low pop. The 2004 Topps finest Jersey refractor of Tom Brady is a pop 6 in a PSA 9 with 7 higher. After missing out on 3 of the 9s on eBay (half the PSA 9 pop) I caved and paid more for a 10. Also not all 9s are created equal. I've had some with noticeable scratches and print lines. Some are definitely over graded. On more than one occasion I've sold a PSA 9 just to rebuy a different one.
Just bought my top 25 favorite 79 and 80 topps stars in PSA 9 in lieu of 10 because want to stare at them on the wall in my office rather then go broke on PSA 10's i never plan to re-sell...thanks for the vid..
Collecting PSA 9s for hall of farmers is a great strategy.
I also like to find my PC players in PSA 10 for their less expensive non-rookies. I will put the first bid in and set the max bid at $20 or $30 and then just see what I end up winning. I have ended up with a ton of cheap PSA 10 Griffeys, Jrods, Lillards, Carrs, and other guys in my PC. Most of these I would have never sought out individually but are nice editions for my PC.
Absolute great video Chris. You do such a great job putting things into prospective
Fantastic video. One of your best and that's saying a whole lot. You could have added Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and Clemens and still stayed under the $725.
So I think you made a REALLY compelling case that for a collector with a reasonable budget, the PSA 9s are a MUCH better value.
But here's another question... Which would be a better INVESTMENT long term?
Tough one but I'm going with the PSA 9s. To me there is a much better chance that a lot of those cards double in price (from say $10-12 to $20-30) compared to hoping that the Puckett doubles in price to $1500.
I could very well be wrong. But at the very least those 9s should hold their value. I fear that may not be the case on that Puckett
All my pc cards I buy are always 9s. Great video.
I’ve been doing this since I started rebuilding my collection! I started buying raw but then saw that a few more dollars I could get PSA 9s better investment no grading fees and I know I’m getting a good quality card in a PSA slab! But I’ve also started buying SCG and CSG 9,9.5&10s because I’m a collector the card is still graded and looks as good and also I’ll buy the CSG Green Label 9.5s and then when I get several others I want I’ll send them in and get them back as 10s and the price is the same or in CSG way less most of the time! I’m looking at two what looks to be future HOFs RC now in green label 9.5s for $18 each one a 1st Bowman Chr. And Bowman’s Best. I’m my eyes as a collector I’m getting more Value for my money! And I may try to crack and get PSAs 10 one day but I’m not interested in selling them! I’m a Pure Collector And Love My Cards, The Game of Baseball And The Hobby Of Collecting Cards!!! Nice video Chris!
This is exactly what we do for my RC PC for Kobe and my son’s Derek Jeter PC, PSA 9s. Except the 93 SP Foil, still looking for a quality PSA 8. Great video.
That SP Foil is such a difficult card to find in higher grades without emptying your life savings, lol. Good luck.
Great video and excellent point. As a few people have noted, would be interesting to see how prices changed in 9s vs 10s over time.
Would also be curious to see how much those same cards would cost raw. Probably $1-$3 each - with less paid for taxes and shipping. Maybe $35-50 for all?
Great point. You could probably get all the cards raw in NM+ condition (except the Rivera) for about $100
I had a PSA 10 and a Psa 8 of Kobe's Topps RC they looked the same other than a brown spec on the back of the 8. But the fronts were Identical.
Just bought a PSA 9 this weekend
Great video, Chris
I sent my 1980 topps scoring leaders Bird Magic rookie card to psa knowing without a doubt that it would grade out to be a 7 just to authenticate the card. My card came back way better than I expected!
I been a card collector since Wayne Gretzky’s second year card came out.. and I still don’t own a single graded card.
Most people are buying the grade and NOT the card.
My PC is all 9s. Loved this video
Expand your hobby dollar even more by buying raw or if you do buy graded get SGC or CSG because you can get those for far cheaper than PSA. You're just paying for the name on the slab.
I'd take a centered card at any grade as long as it's not in the run over by a truck division.
Excellent video
Cheaper yet is raw cards. I collect junk wax rookies, mostly raw. Can't beat the nostalgia bang for the buck.
I look at it like this. 10’s are for resale value. 9’s and lower are for the PC. I rarely buy a 10. The majority of my 10’s are from cards I had graded myself. Since I am mostly into vintage now, 10’s really don’t exist anyway.
Oh I'm taking that PSA 9 Scott Rolen 💥🔨🤑💯
I've actually been buying HOF rookies in 8s however I'm buying all tiffany, glossy, opc, leaf etc. When the younger kids grow up they'll see card collecting through the lens of parallels. What's rarer an 88 fleer smoltz gem mint or an 88 fleer glossy smoltz in an 8? Because I can get the glossy for $25.
If anyone had money to burn it would be interesting to see a video of cracking all those 9s And sending them back in to get graded to see how many if any come back as 10s. It seems that if you got 1 or 2 it would pay for the fees and then some
You have to pay some company $40 or more too grade a card, I have two eyes I can look at a card and tell whether it's well center and sharp corners and no creases.
I understand you can maximize your cardboard by buying 9s but having 10s to me is more important. Also, if you want top dollar for your investment, then 10s are the way to go. Most older collectors aren't trading, they just want what they want.
PSA 8 is a sweet spot for 1970s thru early 80s.
Awesome video.
I have every card you mentioned, along with the no name Frank Thomas RC.
whats even crazier is that if you take out the rivera from the right side, you're at almost half of the cost of the PSA 10 puckett. idk what the dollar per war would equal out to, but i doubt you could do much better for anything less than 400 bucks.
My PC slabs are mostly 8’s. Best value. All SGC
Another thing about 9s--they're still graded MINT
Not disagreeing with you and Mike. But I always believe in buying the best you can afford for your collection. As collectors we get into this mentality as buy for your enjoyment vs not wanting to look like an investor which I don’t understand. We eventually have to sell or let go of our collection whether it’s because of financial reasons or mortality. Why not take the chance of maximizing that when you get the chance. I also think this might be a good topic to talk about in a podcast? It would be way too long here in the comments section.
Seems like you are just an "investor". I have bought more than a few cards that have no real value other than I had them as a kid and wanted them back. Being a true collector is a real thing.
Great thoughts! Every collector has their own quarks. I’m pretty sure Mike only collects PSA graded cards or prefers them over SGC. From my standpoint, I have no preference in grading company or holder. You can acquire a lot of nice pieces if you can control your OCD on many levels 😂.
Eights and Great and Nines are fine.
I PC 9's and sell 10's. With Mike all the way.
9's and 10's will even out down the line. Not everybody has these cards. Unless they still print them now. 😁
Gr8 common sense video Chris..🤔😝 I've always said a little bit goes a long way..😍😉 Thanks for sharing your thoughts also comparing prices of PSA 10's compared to the PSA 9's.. Happy Memorial Day.. Take care..👍💕🔥👊
No disrespect but as a Marine combat veteran there are no HAPPY Memorial Days..your comment on the video was spot on
I would rather have an "eye appeal" authentic with a completely missing back than and OC 8
Which would be the better long term investment play? The Kirby in a 10 or the set of HOF's in 9's?
Hard to say. Historically, the Kirby 10
@@collectorinvestordealer Thanks...I think you're right, though haven't done the math to confirm. Don't mean to be a contrarian (excellent video and discussion) but for some collectors interested in handing off a more manageable and valuable set of cards to the next generation, the emphasis on quality over quantity may be the way to go. One could do both...using the "9s approach for sports or eras that you are most interested in as a collector" and the "10's approach" to a find a few high end examples of cards from sports or eras of relevance but less immediate interest...
With the trimming scandal surfacing again after the Evan Mathis trimming video, I have a whole different take towards the PSA 9 vs 10 debate. What grade do you think is more apt to be trimmed? The PSA 10 cards.
That’s why I always choose a PSA 9 (alittle off center) over a perfectly centered PSA 10 card. Then add in the much cheaper cost of the 9 and it’s no brainer.
I honestly don’t trust any PSA 10 modern card or perfectly centered vintage card. Now I’m not saying they are all trimmed, but it’s exactly how I felt during the Steroid era in Baseball. Not everyone was juicing, but I was suspicious of anyone hitting 50+ Homeruns a year from that era.
My man! Always appreciate the content. But if I may be so bold, would have loved to see more pea 10 vs 9 comparisons. I know your research department is vast so I love seeing values like that and I don’t have to utilize my research department which is suspect at best. Would have been nice also to see which had the biggest gaps and smallest gaps between 9s and 10s. Anywho great stuff as always just a recommendation for future research department deployments. Grassyas$
Great episode.
While I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment of this video, I’m gonna play devils advocate and take it a step further. Specifically let’s look at all of those cards from about 87-early
90s, junk era. You can buy the 10s for hundreds of dollars, the 9s for 10s of dollars, or a beautiful looking raw version for a dollar or two. This is why I don’t collect graded. Even the Kirby rookie, should be able to find a real sharp looking one for about $15. Randy Johnsons, Biggios etc? $1.
Great point
Great snap shot of history!
I buy 10s on the couple guys that I love for example Nolan Arenado. Ill take 9s on the rest due to just wanting the card in my pc at the cheaper price point . Collecting 10s for Hofers if you have the cash flow would be awesome but lets be honest most of us mortals are on budgets.
85 - 92 junk wax era,
the one time slot in cards,
where you want/need to own a 10 if you
don't want to take a financial loss on your card
when you sell it, even years later.
Exactly.
Are people still sending these cards in to be graded? Unless you are bulk rate, the grading fee is more than the card most often.
100 percent agree with this collecting strategy.
Really appreciate the info that you provided in this video. This question might not apply so much to this video, and you've likely answered somewhere else, but do you use a jeweler's loupe before you send cards in to be graded? Thanks Chris
I personally do not but its probably a good idea
This video was very good. I would love you to do another video. You pretend that you buy 20 cards at the 10 price and also the 9 price. You pretend you bought these cards 10 years ago. Now what are all the cards selling for today, 10 years later? Have the 10’s gone up at a much higher rate than the 9’s? Or are the 9’s doing as well or better?
Without researching it, I would guess 10s have done much better since 10 years ago.
I feel the grading is very suspect these days with all the different graders. I do not buy cards online as I have to really get a close look at what I buy now days. I am into mid-grade vintage cards. Even with those the grading is all over the place. I've seen many 5's that look a look nicer than cards getting 7's.
What is crazy to me is that almost all of the cards even graded a 9 sell for far less then the PSA $19 grading cost even if you are a $100 a year collectors club member! Like why would anyone even send those cards in to be graded. PSA needs to lower their fees for real. Card gets graded a 9 from that era and it sells for half of the grading cost/ Thats absurd. If PSA wants to continue to have real business they are gonna need to knock down the grading costs to like $10 a card. I have all of these cards and i know all of them are a 9 and some would be a 10 but why send them in. If they all get 9s i lose money, alot especially after shipping there and back and insurance. The difference between 9s and 10s cannot be seen with the naked eye at all.
He's right. 9s should cost way more
Here in Canada, all these $10 are $25+
Could the same be said for buying 10s from csg or scg or bgs? They could be as nice as a 10 with psa, for a fraction of the cost.
Thanks for the great videos.
Great point!
Ive always said theres no visual differences in a PSA9 or PSA10. The price differences have never made any sense to me. People are literally paying for the label at PSA10 prices. Chances are, they could buy a PSA9 to crack and resubmit for a chance at a PSA10.
Tiffany are criminally undervalued. So few printed of mega stars…. Look at Griffey…. 6,000 bowman tiffany, 15,000 topps tiffany, and 30,000 fleer glossy. That’s nothing compared to the upper deck which is still being printed 😂😂😂…. Some bright spots of the junk wax era!!!
Spot on
Is there a possibility of a market correction on PSA 9's to get closer to a 10 value. 15 times difference seems like a pretty large delta for one spot off in grading.
There is a possibility but I probably would not predict it
Very good points are made …… but I want a 10 lol
I've been buying a lot of 9s if there is a big gap. Like current player rookies of Ohtani and Acuna. The gap between 10s and 9s is nonsense. Easy future money to be made.
You could’ve added the greatest DH of all time!
I miss Kirby...
No one else does, he was a pos human
Its a baseball video bro. He misses Kirby the exciting ballplayer not Kirby you’re next door neighbor 🙄
Me too
@@ptccombatfitness6726 I miss him too, so you're wrong.
@@hognuckles Do you miss most people that beat their wives. Says a lot about your character