FAQ - How should I grade my collectible?
By: Dan Power
A grade is a numerical assessment of the condition and quality of a collectible. Individual artifacts are graded, but one can refer to the average grade and condition of a set or collection. For example, dealers may make a "buy" offer based upon a general appraisal of a "year set" or other meaningful collecting entity.
Let's examine grading in a few specific hobbies: baseball cards, coins and stamps. Professional grading services exist for each of these types of collectibles. Grading takes into account the fundamental differences in each of these categories of artifacts. For example, baseball card grading must examine the corners of cards, centering, etc. Stamp grading has similarities, but postally used examples are also graded. Stamps are also collected on cachets and the stamp and cachet can be graded. Coins are graded in terms of strike, luster, wear and other condition factors from "use". Centering is not a major issue with coins although some people collect error coins including those with centering problems.
Grading standards are published by grading services, collecting groups like APS, ANA, etc., and by dealers. Some dealers actually claim there standards are more "conservative" than those of grading services for their ungraded objects. Some of this is marketing, but it also reflects the growing sophistication of collectors about the issues associated with condition and grading.
My collecting interests are broad and as a Professor who is interested in decision making and computerized decision support systems, I have investigated various grading schemes.
Let's look at grading of baseball cards.
Beckett Grading (www.beckett.com) offers grading services for many types of cards. The website claims grading increases value of cards in the market. Grading also aids in preservation/protection and insures that an artifact is authentic. A professionally graded and "slabbed" collectible should be tamper proof and hence can more easily be purchased on the Internet and in auctions.
Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) is another collectibles grading service. The PSA website is www.psacard.com.
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