General Forum

What do you think the highest grade a card with paper loss deserves?  How do the grading services handle/grade paper loss? 

No idea, since I don't get anything graded, but what a beautiful card!

Except for that spot above his shoulder.  And the borders make you think "trimmed?"

armac wrote:

No idea, since I don't get anything graded, but what a beautiful card!

No expert here, but I feel like the grading companies are pretty tough on paper loss, especially on the front. I also think the grading companies are pretty inconsistent in the whole, you know, grading thing. This card is great other than the tiny bit of paper loss. I can see PSA giving it anywhere from a 1.5 to a 4. I also think, whatever they say, the grading companies are more lenient on older cards of stars.

So I couldn't be less helpful than that, could I?

To answer your first question, I'd say a card with paper loss on the front can't be above VG. I'd probably give this a 3 because it still "presents well," as they say in the biz. Looks better than the 3 here:

http://www.psacard.com/resources/gradingstandards/#cards

v3

As a Browns collector that doesn't have that card, it is still beautiful to me. As for trimmed, the corners and sides do look sharp so it could be, but, hey, a card being trimmed (as I called it, the seller called it factory short) was how I could afford to buy a nice looking Jim Brown rookie card.

For surface grading, minor scuffing (which is how I would treat this) gets about a [VG-EX 4.0] according to Beckett.  It the Corners, Edges, and Centering are all well above this grade, I could see a card with this type of minor scuffing being considered for the 1-2 half grade bump.  That would put the overall grade at up to [VG-EX+ 4.5] or [EX 5.0].   

I'm not saying that this is how one of the grading services would send it back.  They give 10's to off-centered cards and 1's to nice cards with a single flaw.  I'm just saying what I would consider the "highest possible grade" for a card with paper loss in the example shown.  Of course, the rest of the surface, as well as the Corners, Edges, and Centering have to be considered, which I did not try to examine here.   

It is a very nice card even with that small defect.   Did you measure it to see if was indeed trimmed?

This image is from an ebay listing. Seller states it would grade a 6/EX-MT.  I can't find much on-line on paper loss affecting grade/condition.

NJDevils wrote:

It is a very nice card even with that small defect.   Did you measure it to see if was indeed trimmed?

paper loss drops a card to fair condition

usually poor/fair/good cards run 5-15% of nm book value

thanks, mark 

Being a vintage card from 1962 actually helps for the grading. Paper loss was very common back then (especially due to gum and packaging) and so the defect isn't as severly punished in the grading as current-era cards. IF the card dimensions are correct and not trimmed, it should get in the ballpark of 5 (EX). Surprisingly, the book value for ungraded versions of this card are higher than the graded version for conditions Good (2), VG (3), VG-EX (4), EX (5) and NM (7). A 6 grade is listed slightly higher than the ungraded version. An 8 or higher graded version skyrockets above the non-graded card.

I'd go for the card posted, IF it's listed for $50 or less and the dimensions are true. Also, I'd make sure it isn't a reprint before going after it. JMO and I hope this helped in some way.