RSS
Home
Best Trading Cards in the Nation - Sportscards, Garbage Pail Kids and Bubble Gum Packs
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
1887 Baseball Card of Charles Radbourne - Graded EX by SGC
As a sportscard dealer and trading card enthusiast I often hear about some of the best collections in the country. Unfortunately most of the time its only a story - a shoebox full of vintage cards thrown out a long time ago by a mom or a closet full of mass produced sets in factory boxes from the 1990s. They're all described with oohs and ahhs as mint, limited edition, sharp, and amazing. Mickey Mantle - yes! Rookie cards - of course! These collectors had everything and own it all....somewhere. Others prefer to keep their collections private.
Then there are collectors who share their prized possessions on The Registry for all to see. Established in 2001, the PSA Set Registry is home to some of the finest trading card collections in the world with more than 38,000 sets represented. Towards the end of 2002, another professional grading company SGC introduced their own version of the tool with several thousand vintage collections. It was just updated with more functionality and greater ease-of-use by Novocent Partners. Recently, Beckett Media also joined the fray. Combined they show off amazing examples of baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf, and boxing cards as well as many non-sportscards. Top sets are recognized each year with awards in various categories and others are entered into a Hall of Fame. Each registry drives healthy competition amongst collectors while providing a safe community.
1986 Garbage Pail Kids Nasty Nick - Graded GEM MT by PSA
Third-party authentication has changed the hobby forever. "Experts" provide a second set of eyes grading the cards based on centering and corner wear. They will also verify the authenticity of the cardboard by reviewing the card stock and edges for trimming or other alterations. It's not unusual to find an item from the 1950's where someone stripped away color, creating a wider white border, to make the image appear more centered. Or, black light techniques can reveal corners that have been built up to appear sharper.
Deductions are made for any defects such as print quality, focus, and non-factory markings. Grades of Poor to Pristine, 1 to 100 are assigned to each item. The cards are then encapsulated in tamper proof holders for safekeeping. Each plastic slab is labeled with the year, manufacturer, player name, grade and a unique barcoded number. Altered cards will be slabbed "Authentic" with no numeric grade. The certification numbers can be entered as inventory and assigned to a registered set by player, team and/or year-manufacturer. Grading is not perfect and card condition is often subjective, but it does provide another opinion for buyers and sellers of trading cards. It is only a guide.
1966 Philadelphia Football Wax Pack - Graded NM+ by GAI
Please note grading is not limited to just cards. It's also possible to submit wax, cello, and rack packs or full boxes. The condition of each is graded in a similar manner as cards where the graders will evaluate the authenticity and overall condition.
The collections on The Registry represent years of dedication and time. Often it's a matter of traveling to trade shows, browsing through dealer lots, opening pack after pack, begging for trades, and other resources (yes - lots of money). The sets can be admired by fans of sport, music, tv, film, and history. Set rankings are determined by the grades assigned to the cards, the "weight" assigned to each item based on scarcity and the overall completeness. These factors push us to continuously find better examples to drive up the score and vault up the charts. Comments can be left by admirers for more encouragement. Please show us some love, become a member, and post some feedback. We love our sets.
Choosing the right registry for you will take some research. It will depend on your grading company of choice, the community you prefer to engage and the types of cards you collect. The card grading sites have chatrooms for members to meet collectors, post wantlists, and ask questions. Each registry will only accept cards graded by their company and raw examples cannot be stored. In my experience, the grading companies each have their own niche in the hobby - SGC (pre-1940), PSA (up to 1980), and BGS (modern). The holders, labels, and grading systems are all different so be sure to research each one to decide what best suits your collecting focus.
There are no fees to register a set. Only membership and a logon are required. So start posting those trading cards for all of us to enjoy. Good luck in your pursuit of perfection.
Please find a sample of some beautiful sets below (images load slowly):
- 1915 Cracker Jack (Baseball) - Griffin's
- 1951 Topps Ringside (Boxing) - EPD1306
- 1955 Topps All-Americans (Football) - Brians
- 1959 Topps (Baseball) - Don Johnson
- 1962 Topps Mars Attacks - Winpitcher's
- 1963 Topps (Football) - Wolfbear's
- 1964 Beatles Color - Jean Luc Picard
- 1977 Topps Star Wars - Captain Jon's
- Hall of Fame Rookie Cards (Football) - Davemri
- Hall of Fame Rookie Cards (Hockey) - GoSoxBoSox
- Mike Schmidt Player Set - Phillies Phan
