I scanned this card to try and display accurately any flaw it has. Can anyone with eagle-eyes pick up something I’m missing? I know this doesn’t truely represent flaws and I don’t want to re-grade it. I do believe it’s a fair grade, a bit harsh at that, yet justified. What do you think?
It is a PSA NM 7.
Noticeable flaws
Front
bottom right corner
Back
bottom left corner
bottom right border (under Fighting symbol)
top centre border (whitening)
* Next to the P below the Grass symbol on the blue, there appears to be a speck of whitening, this wiped away. Potentially dust on the case or scanner glass.
I’m not certain if the back, top centre whitening would be considered by PSA for this grade or if it’s rather minor. I can imagine the corner alone is why it is an auto 7.
That Pichu’s about as good at Rainbow Road as your PSA grade.
Oh sorry, you said scrutinize, not roast.
I don’t see anything else wrong outside of what you primarily pointed out. Sadly, a bend on a card can really impact a grade from what I’ve seen. Even more than a little bit of edge whitening. Whitening means a card was handled. A bend means it was damaged.
That very visible bend in the bottom right probably knocks it down to a PSA 7 by itself. Other than that there’s not much to scrutinize here. Accurate grade imo.
A PSA 7 is generous for a card with a bent front corner like that. I’ve never seen that on a PSA 7 or more. As a buyer I can’t imagine being worried about bends (even very minor) when buying PSA 7-8 on high end cards.
Bends, creases or indents should be a 6 at most from my experience with graded cards. I have a couple that are completely flawless but for small indents which you cant even see and they are all graded psa 6.
@azulryu , Ha it’s good to be brutal! Yeah that’s what I thought. I don’t have any other bends apart from on my Masaki and they took the hit hard so needed a second opinion.
@bbqcat , It certainly is, one of my favourite art works!
@melchior , Yeah, it’s very unfortunate it can’t be helped.
@mistercrunch , I’ve seen a good amount of 7’s in a lot worse shape than this card. Frustrating a slight nick in the corner can be so detrimental to the grade. Luckily it’s here to stay so no-one needs to worry aha.
@woolsluk, It’s a real shame, I should be grateful then it received a 7 and not a 6!
As others have already said any bend/crease/indent can take you straight down to a PSA 6. Sometimes it can feel harsh for sure depending on how bad the damage is. But don’t worry you are not alone! For example this card below is a PSA 4. It has a tiny crease on the bottom border and some sort of mark on the water energy symbol but its the best looking PSA 4 I have ever seen/owned!
I guess you just have to roll with the punches! Sometimes you get higher grades than you expect sometimes lower!
@fireftw87, That certainly is tragic. How on earth does it get a small crease vertical like that in the first place. I just checked as I forgot I had some damaged no rarity cards and the PSA 4 I have is hilarious compared to that Zard. I wonder if its a dirt mark on the water symbol or actual staining. You could crack the case gently rub it with a slightly damp micro fibre cloth and see if it’ll remove and then re submit it.
I have no idea!! Its literally just on the border as far as I can tell as well. I bet, I kinda want a comparison photo haha!
I am not sure hard to tell just looking through the case, I think I must have missed it when I sent it off originally years ago. I could try that but I don’t know if its even worth it as it still would not grade higher than a six. It’s still a fantastic looking card either way
@pichufan , I couldn’t possibly send a bent card to you, oh well I best just keep it here with me! Apologies for posting this, I should have contained a spoiler just for you!
@fireftw87, This is the 4, the holo and edges have seen better days. I don’t have a scan of the back but it’s not the prettiest either.
Yes the Charizard is fine just as it is, probably a waste of time trying to fix an unsolvable task.
PokemonPup. I have seen a Masaki Card with a very similar bend at the top right corner. It graded a 7.
I’m under the belief that cards with noticeable creases on the borders/sides, get graded harsher than corner bends since corners tend to commonly have chipping or whitening. May explain why a Mewtwo with multiple corner wear is the same grade as a Charizard with a bottom center crease. Still. The Charizard looks pretty good. I would have guessed a 6 or 7.
Yeah creases or dents → don’t expect anything better than a 7 or 6.
I recently got back my PSA submission that had a perfect looking Charizard GX Promo in it that was a 6. But turns out it has an indent that I never noticed. The card is perfect otherwise. So yeah, they are and have always been strict about indents and creases.
This should be an automatic 6, especially since the damage is apparent on both sides
I’ve seen cases where the crease is so hidden it takes forever to even spot it, and yet those cards have gotten 6s, yet this one with obvious corner damage got a 7 lol
@xzini, @skiwi, Thank you, apologises I missed your posts. That’s very unfortunate, I too struggle to find flaws on these full art illustrations as they can be far too busy. Very easy to miss a subtle defect.
@madden12ut, Thank goodness I didn’t pay you as a third party to professionally grade my card.
I did state it was a fair grade and justified. It should not be an automatic 6, as there’s more variables to grading than that.
Thank you for your input nonetheless, even if you do sound slightly salty.
