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70's basketball cards. Poor centering, elsewise close to perfect. What grade?
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8 posts in this topic

I'm new to submitting for grades.  I have some 70's basketball cards that have been kept in close to mint condition through the years, one owner passed down to me, kept in the same top loaders for at least 30 years.  Raw range of $20-80, nothing extremely valuable.  Almost all of them have terrible centering, but like I said, are otherwise very sharp.  Should I grade, and what type of grade would I expect?  For sub-grades, I'd expect a six or below.  So how would they grade?  Lets say center was a 6, but the other 3 were 9s.  33/40=8?  Is that how it works?

I'm assuming that if I want to sell these on ebay and I'm in no rush, then it would definitely make sense to grade, correct?

Thanks for the help!

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If centering was 6, the highest grade the card could get is 7...it's not an average.  A 6 isn't completely horrendous centering, if they're really off center, could be lower.  Posting pics of a couple would help.

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Poorly centered 1970's cards should not be graded IMO, even if they are mint otherwise. You can try to trick people with PSA by having the OC qualifier, but the card would absolutely get destroyed by CSG with the centering subgrade. 1970's basketball cards sell quite well raw now on eBay, especially with crisp edges and corners. Just take good scans of the cards. I would grade certain off-centered cards like the 1972 Dr. J, 1975 Moses Malone, or other iconic 1970's cards. 

This is why CSG backlogs are building up quickly. Every card does not need to be graded. Raw prices are real good for vintage and you might lose money grading off-centered cards. The reason why 1970's football and basketball go for good prices graded 7 and above is that those cards are rare! Most cards are off-centered, are poorly cut, and have horrible print defects.

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Thanks for the info, that makes sense.  I have my first even grading order in with CSG, and am thinking about sending my second in, so your info is very helpful.  I've uploaded images of some that are probably marginal when it comes to being a good decision to have graded.  I have some that are better centered and many that are worse.

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