Card Grading Australia

[Mr Paparazzi]

Hey Clarence, think the slab and report are good, especially the report. Slabs could use a little tweaking but all looks good.

Might submit a couple of my cards to them now, and I have never sent any cards off to be graded as I don't trust Beckett grading or that my card will return in the same shape, seen and heard to many horror stories.

Would be good to give the company some feedback so they can improve.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Love the included breakdown.

 

[Lazlow]

Nearly every imperfection listed in that report is prefaced with the word minor.

Looks bloody good for a 25 year old OPC card.

 

[nino_013]

Hey Clarence, think the slab and report are good, especially the report. Slabs could use a little tweaking but all looks good.

Might submit a couple of my cards to them now, and I have never sent any cards off to be graded as I don't trust Beckett grading or that my card will return in the same shape, seen and heard to many horror stories.

Would be good to give the company some feedback so they can improve.

Hey Brett, will bring it down to you in the next week or so, if u want to see it in person.
I think their written reports option is what might seperate them from the other grading companies.

But yeah i posted it so that fellow collectors can post their opinions/suggestions on how they can improve
their product and hopefully become an alternative and more cost effective grading service for australian collectors.

Im pretty sure theyre registered users on the site, but ill forward them this thread anyways.

 

[tagged]

I like everything about the cards and the report, I'll be sending some off for a grade.

 

[ScottE]

Just out of curiosity what did it cost all up to get a card graded by them? Ect postage, grading?

 

[Matty4292]

I really like everything here... Will definitely be sending some in, have wanted tog et some cards graded for a while but didn't want to send them to USA.

 

[drob50]

Well done Clarence. I for one am glad to see a trial run with these!

I really like the report, although it would be better to have it a little bit smaller so it could be stored in a team bag along with the card. At that size, you would need to keep a separate file for the reports!

The label definitely could be 'prettied up' a little, but not a deal breaker for me. Sub grades would be nice, but are probably irrelevant with the report!

I would be interested to see how they go with authenticating autographs! Do they offer that?

All in all, I think it is fantastic for AFL and NRL collectors. Being Aussie sports, they don't need to use a company that is recognised by the International community!

Ill tell you, if you listed a card on ebay (or here) as NEAR MINT and it came to me with that many faults, it would be getting sent back as NOT AS DESCRIBED!! unless of coarse those faults were clearly listed! But then im sure the word MINT would not be getting used in that same paragraph.

How can you say that someone who lists a card as 'Near Mint' and then sends a card that would grade a 71 is 'NOT AS DESCRIBED', when BGS, PSA and CGA all refer to this condition as near mint!You are going to try and return an item because your personal preference of the name given to these grades should override what these 3 companies have been using for years? I'm sorry, but a seller using 'Hobby Specific' terms where they ARE RELEVANT is not a fault of theirs!
Fair enough, if someone didn't mention the condition you would expect Mint, but otherwise, I'm sorry, but you are wrong!


It seems to me that the only problem you have is the actual words used to 'name' each level of grade! Try going into Nandos and returning your 'Large' Chips because they are 'Not as Described'! They use regular, large and 'seriously large' to describe their 3 sizes. In my opinion, they should be small, medium and large, but just because I don't like the names they used to describe them, doesn't make it wrong!

 

[ooneil]

Funny. You NBA guys need to remember card grading is new to us AFL/NRL guys.

I completely understand where Sasha is coming from with the whole grading scale thing.

 

[drob50]

Funny. You NBA guys need to remember card grading is new to us AFL/NRL guys.

I completely understand where Sasha is coming from with the whole grading scale thing.

I do understand that, hence the comment about CGA being great for NRL/AFL collectors. And I also understand his POV about the terms used, but the reality is that he/you need to accept the commonly used terms in order to be able to compare cards.

The thing is, grading is already a subjective thing. The 'grade' a card receives is based on the opinion of the grader. However, if there is no common scale used to describe the condition of the card, then that makes the actual terms used to describe the condition opinionated as well! You need to have uniform terms in the hobby to allow people to compare apples and apples. If I described a card on eBay as 'nearly immaculate' then how would you ever know what to expect?

I see that all NRL and AFL collectors have no problem picking up on the term 'Mint' as a description, so now they just need to look into what the common terms are for the other conditions!

 

[Matty4292]

I do understand that, hence the comment about CGA being great for NRL/AFL collectors. And I also understand his POV about the terms used, but the reality is that he/you need to accept the commonly used terms in order to be able to compare cards.

The thing is, grading is already a subjective thing. The 'grade' a card receives is based on the opinion of the grader. However, if there is no common scale used to describe the condition of the card, then that makes the actual terms used to describe the condition opinionated as well! You need to have uniform terms in the hobby to allow people to compare apples and apples. If I described a card on eBay as 'nearly immaculate' then how would you ever know what to expect?

I see that all NRL and AFL collectors have no problem picking up on the term 'Mint' as a description, so now they just need to look into what the common terms are for the other conditions!

100% agree with where you are coming from Adam.

 

[Cobretti]

You seem to be assuming a ratio scale. It's actually ordinal. Translation - the numeric value is not a percentage.

This is the key to this whole discussion.


Think of it like a race, they use ordinal scales.

when the race is over you get thr results - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, .... last

1st place beat 2nd by 20seconds
2nd beat 3rd by 4 laps
3rd beat 4th to last by 100 laps as 4th and back had the worst crash ever in motor sport history lol.


what confused people is when they started using EVERY point on a 100 point scale or 0.5 increments on ten point scale. suddenly people started thnking it mean 95% perfect, 70% perfect. when it is not a percentage.

 

[ooneil]

I do understand that, hence the comment about CGA being great for NRL/AFL collectors. And I also understand his POV about the terms used, but the reality is that he/you need to accept the commonly used terms in order to be able to compare cards.

The thing is, grading is already a subjective thing. The 'grade' a card receives is based on the opinion of the grader. However, if there is no common scale used to describe the condition of the card, then that makes the actual terms used to describe the condition opinionated as well! You need to have uniform terms in the hobby to allow people to compare apples and apples. If I described a card on eBay as 'nearly immaculate' then how would you ever know what to expect?

I see that all NRL and AFL collectors have no problem picking up on the term 'Mint' as a description, so now they just need to look into what the common terms are for the other conditions!

I was not disagreeing with you Adam but Sasha is entitled to his opinion.

They might be commonly used terms for US sport cards but they are not for Aussie sport cards.

 

[nino_013]

Thanks Adam. The report is actually only A5 size so when its folded it fits neatly
inside the graded card bag. So filing cabinets not necessary... T

They do offer an autograph service, but only for certified auto'd cards

Autograph card grading is also a complete grading service. Each autograph card will be comprehensively graded using our unique 100 point grading system, (including the signature quality), then encapsulated in our crystal clear, tamper proof, sealed holder, along with an identifying tag. This service offers each card its own score between 1 and 100, an assigned grade to match the score (see 'Grading Scale') and the option of a full written report detailing any and all imperfections we find on the card and the autograph itself. The details and grading results of each card are then entered into our graded card data base. The fees for comprehensive grading vary depending upon the number of cards submitted and the turnaround time (see 'Fees').
*Please note: any cards autographed unofficially will be rejected. These cards should be submitted using our RAW service.

 

[jefferson]

Hmm definitely something I will look into and research about. Yep, it's something that would be new to AFL & NRL collectors, so we may not have as much extensive knowledge as you NBA guys.

Using the 2012 Footycards Draft Prospects Cards as an example, would it be reasonable to expect a high grading since all the cards are pre-packed in a penny sleeve & toploader?

Are there any basketball products that come pre-packaged in toploaders etc?

Excuse my ignorance.

 

[Lazlow]

Dunno about BBall, but 2011 Leaf Metal MMA's cards came pre-packed in sleeves and toploaders.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Hmm definitely something I will look into and research about. Yep, it's something that would be new to AFL & NRL collectors, so we may not have as much extensive knowledge as you NBA guys.

Using the 2012 Footycards Draft Prospects Cards as an example, would it be reasonable to expect a high grading since all the cards are pre-packed in a penny sleeve & toploader?

Are there any basketball products that come pre-packaged in toploaders etc?

Excuse my ignorance.

There was an NBA release where some cards came packaged in something like a one-touch.

 

[Lazlow]

ITG's Ultimate Memorabilia's cards come encapsulated like graded cards too.

 

[WoobieZarz]

When we're talking cards, regardless of sport or theme, the terminology "mint" gets tossed around like it's a standard rule. Nothing's standard, that's for sure, and one person's impression on what "mint" is, is and will always be different to someone elses impressions.

To me, if it's obviously crisp on all 4 edges, and sides, with no surface scratches, I consider it good enough to be called "mint".

If I sent something in for grading, something which I had considered "mint", and it returned back with a list of imperfections, would it change my opinion? Probably not, but the list would be obvious to all, and each person could make the own assumption based on those facts.


p.s. Thanks Clarence for sharing the images, and experience. A lot of people have asked about these guys, and for Australian cards, these guys could be really good. I'm not sure we'd receive the same recognition from overseas' collectors, as they may not appreciate CGA. - Like some Aussies don't with BCCG grading.

 

[nino_013]

Thanks for the relevant input Scotty.