Is there an accepted conversion/correlation/comparison between PSA grades and raw condition? If you’d be so kind, please assign PSA grades to the following categories:
Mint
Near Mint
Light Play
Moderate Play
Heavy Play
Damaged
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Their designation should be on the PSA label for the most part.
In between LP and NM you have Excellent.
And anything with the word played in it is most likely under a psa4
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I cracked a PSA 5 Chansey and that thing has got some long and deep scratches. Just cant imagine someone describing it as light play let alone near mint.
It’s really hard to nail down a direct correlation because sometimes you have 9’s that are 6’s because of a tiny indent on the back. For the most part, as mentioned above, the condition stated on the PSA is safe to go off of.
There is not an accepted conversion, but here’s what I would expect if I was buying cards with that condition rating off of eBay or any other site.
Mint - PSA 8-9
Near Mint - PSA 6-7
Light Play - PSA 5-6
Moderate Play - PSA 3-4
Heavy Play - PSA 1-3
Damaged - PSA 1
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This seems about right to me. Even though PSA 5 is considered “excellent” I would never describe that Chansey as being in excellent condition. More like moderate play.
Keep in mind that PSA’s card condition ratings were designed for vintage sports cards. These cards are normally beat to hell and finding one in a PSA 5 condition really is an excellent condition card when you compare it to a lot of the other cards from that time. When we think Pokemon cards, our condition expectations are much higher because the cards are much more recent and were preserved more. PSA’s condition descriptors really don’t get anywhere near negative until you get down to PSA 1 (Poor). A PSA 1.5 is Fair, a PSA 2 is Good, a PSA 3 is Very Good, and a PSA 4 is Very Good-Excellent.
In the context of professional grading, your Chansey is most definitely an excellent condition card. Using a colloquial definition of excellent though, perhaps not.
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My thoughts exactly. I’m making some old school decks and would prefer a LP condition average. Looks like I’ll be cracking PSA 6/7.
This is a very good guide from my experience. I would also highly caution about buying raw cards and expecting to receive a card that will match this range. Random sellers are incentivized to rate their cards higher and will likely give themselves the benefit of the doubt or miss obvious dents and scratches that won’t show up in the pictures. If anything, I would take this range and even knock it down another PSA # or 2 if you’re not buying from a trusted well established seller.
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