PSA 10 is the absolute most perfect rating a baseball card can get for its condition. A 10 is very hard to achieve. Absolute sharp corners. Laser perfect centering. Brand new surface.
But Justin Reed on Facebook points out: “Some of the borders are off. Can’t believe they’re all 10’s!” (via Sports Collectors Daily Facebook post) Are these cards really the most pure mint condition? I created the animated gif of all 40 cards to show how the color changes across the cards. I’m not sure if this is variation in the scanner, but shouldn’t they all look the same if they are perfect-perfect?
Here at 57hits.com we love the visceral nature of cards. Real objects. Real textures. Real cardboard. The PSA 10 card holds quite an elite status in the card world. Their rarity introduces a new element of collect ability for the mass-produced cards of the 80s.
The rarity of the PSA 10 Ripken is explained by Scott Glenn, “He is saying this represents approximately 10% of the total population of PSA 10 1982 Ripken’s which means there is close to 400 but there is actually 338 of them so he has more than 10% of the total population.”
If the condition is so gentle on these pieces of cardboard, then how would one ship them? Would the outside weather potentially damage the cards?
What do you think of this collection of PSA 10 Ripken rookies? Its it really cool to see this amount of cards together? Or does it demonstrate how the baseball card hobby has gone crazy?
“The value in modern era baseball cards is dead. This is ridiculous….its ripken not mantle” says George Stutter Andrews. Tim Murray states, “professionally graded cards are the dadaism of collecting.”
Do you agree?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments or on your favorite social media channel. This blog post appears on Reddit, Twitter, Google Plus, Tumblr, and Pinterest.