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The best card grading service is offered by PSA thanks to its leading reputation and resale values. In fact, PSA graded over 1 million cards in August 2023 alone, while the next highest company, SGC, graded just over 100,000. That said, the “best” is subjective, and if turnaround time, cost, and/or look of the slab […]
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A rainbow in sports cards is the name for collecting the entire parallel run of a particular card in a particular set or subset. The name “rainbow” comes from the fact that parallels often come in different colors and designs, so when you put them all together and next to each other, it forms a
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In every Topps release you can count on a few things—a new checklist, SSPs, SPs, parallels, and base cards. Meaning, a set like 2022 Topps Series 2 has a new crop of rookie cards, but it also offers a number of short prints in addition. These short print cards typically include photo variations of current
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Picking up on the subtle differences between Panini Prizm football, basketball, and baseball cards can be a difficult thing for new collectors. That said, it’s the identification process and “sleuthing” that is actually the most enjoyable for others. Either way, the Panini Prizm color scale and telling the difference between the silver prizm and base
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Definition A 1st Bowman chrome card is a player’s “first” professional card, along with the 1st Bowman paper card. The chrome version is arguably one of the most desirable “base” baseball cards a player can have, along with a player’s Topps Chrome rookie card. Read More: Julio Rodriguez Rookie Cards Is a 1st Bowman Chrome
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PSA Definition In cards, PSA stands for Professional Sports Authenticator, which is one of the largest and most popular card grading companies around. A card grading company evaluates cards and assigns them a grade or card rating based on their condition. The main factors include a card’s centeredness, edges, corners, and surface. What is a
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PSA OC is a specific qualifier assigned by the grading company to identify a card as “off center”—even though that card meets the criteria for a particular grade. For example, a PSA 9 means the card is in mint condition, but a PSA 9 OC means that card also significant centering issues. Read More: PSA
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An SGC “A” graded card stands for “Authentic.” This is not a card rating that one would expect on an encapsulated card, but rather a designation. Meaning, it’s an option that can be selected upon submission if you “would like SGC to encapsulate any trimmed or color-enhanced card (that is authentic) with the “A” designation.
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In cards, a buyback is when an already-released card is “bought” back from the market and re-inserted into a new product. This buyback card usually has an added feature, like an autograph, serial number, or stamp. As mentioned above, the Archies Signature Series line of cards is a popular release that features exclusively buyback cards.
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In sports cards, FOTL stands for First Off the Line. It’s a product variation from Panini that typically offers exclusive parallels, under the selling point that it’s the “first” of the boxes to be produced and sold. Now, if you don’t know what FOTL stands for, there is a good chance the previous sentence definition
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