[NateNichols]

I think the Mantle is a 5 and the Yaz possibly a 5.5. The corners on both are too round to pull a 6.

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For $16 on that Mantle, I'd say you did well. You can still get $60-$70 out of it.

Yeah, and I was being gracious with my estimate and I figured so.

I know their vintage grading is really, really tough so you have to look even harder and be harder on any flaws that exist.

I know this first-hand because of the grade I got on my 1968 Nolan Ryan RC. Everyone I've shown the card says it should be at least a 6 with how sharp the corners are and how the surface and edges are also amazing. The centering of the card is what dragged it down, but I still do think it's a shade under-graded at 5.5

I've got other cards I'm looking at buying, but this guy has some solid vintage stuff and I wanted to at least check it out to see what type of condition they actually were in and what others thought.

[Hofcollector]

I'm sure your well aware grading can be a toss up, even when you have the tools to check cards out yourself. I got a stack of vintage graded at the last show that I'd been keeping aside from collections I've bought. I check over everything and the ones that look really nice I'll send out. Long story short I got one card back that they couldn't authenticate, and it was the last card you would have expected. I had a couple of blazers in there that had everyone raising an eyebrow like 2 '61 Mantles, a '63, a beautiful, '69 Jackson, etc. Everyone was afraid of buying the '61 Mantles because one in particular was just so stunning for an ungraded card. Anyway, I got the stack back and...

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I talked with the guys doing the grading and basically there wasn't overwhelming evidence that the card had been altered, but that the edge wasn't consistent with the other 3 and couldn't authenticate it. You can't get mad because these things happen.

[NateNichols]

Man, that sucks.

That is definitely one of those just bad breaks and there really isn't much you can do about it.

I guess I've been pretty fortunate not to run into anything like that so far. I definitely look over everything under magnification, even the edges.

[jeantoto]

I know it sucks HofCollector but it gives credibility to the grading company.
They're caring about what they are grading and it sounds right to me.
It would have easier for them to simply grade it but they preferred let it ungraded even it might mean less business with you in the future.

[Hofcollector]

Man, that sucks.

That is definitely one of those just bad breaks and there really isn't much you can do about it.

I guess I've been pretty fortunate not to run into anything like that so far. I definitely look over everything under magnification, even the edges.

I wasn't all broken up about it. It happens. That's actually the first time I've had anything come back altered. I've seen stacks of cards come back that werent able to be authenticated when friends have submitted them. I also check everything before I buy but it's really hard to get into the mind of a grader. The funny part of this was I had another '69 Mantle in far better condition come back a 7.5 in that lot. I looked at the one that they couldn't authenticate under magnification again when I got home. Couldn't figure out what they saw they didn't like.

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I know it sucks HofCollector but it gives credibility to the grading company.
They're caring about what they are grading and it sounds right to me.
It would have easier for them to simply grade it but they preferred let it ungraded even it might mean less business with you in the future.

I agree. I'm not upset. All it means is that they're checking.