Have PSA's Grading Standards Changed?

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A lot of people like to talk about PSA’s inconsistent grades and how their standards have changed over the years, but I am unable to find anything concrete showing actual changing of their standards. I believe 10s used to be eligible at 60/40 front centering, but now their standards page says 55/45 to 60/40 and at least one Reddit post suggests that this was a recent change.

This is more evident when looking at a 1961 Fleer PSA 10 Wilt Chamberlain, graded at least two decades ago, side-by-side with the recently-graded SGC 10:

I received the PSA 10 scan directly from the buyer of the SGC 10. Unseen publicly in probably decades, I’m sure PSA would prefer that it had not seen the light of day again.

Besides the obvious left-right centering issue, there’s also a bottom white border protrusion.

So, tell me:

And yes, I am aware that one card from decades ago is not evidence of changing standards. I just think it’s an interesting topic. Will the graded cards you own now fall victim to shifting standards in the future?

Also, what has caused the change? Did it begin when big money hit the hobby and grades meant more? Did group submitters have more influence in the “olden days,” like some commenters suggested on my video?

Interestingly, one of the first results in a Google search about PSA’s changing standards is a video by my friend Graig at Midlife Cards.

There are also a ton of forum threads about the changing standards (that’s 4 links before this parenthetical), but again, nothing concrete. Please send it to me if you have it.

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YouTube Comments Of The Week

First a funny one:

And, okay, this one is funny too, even if it wasn’t intended to be:

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Channel Highlights From the Past Week

Highlight or lowlight? You decide:

I texted the buyer of the $1.7 million SGC 10 Wilt Chamberlain rookie and he explained how it ended up in an SGC slab instead of PSA. The editing on this video was poor, but I also explained the confusion in the pinned comment:

And a fun mail day:

And in my newsletter for my #100 card in my ACE 100 list, I asked where you would put the 1953 Bowman Color Pee Wee Reese. 83% of you agreed that it belonged in the top 100, and many of you had it way higher. I didn’t get as many poll responses as I like, so I’ll put the poll higher moving forward.

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2.5 out of 5 stars

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My Pickup Of The Week

Sneak preview! I bought this from great seller and Twitterer Ryan:

Great centering, front looks really nice. Perfect for me.

Giveaway Winner #4!

This week’s winner is [email protected]! Please pick from the cards that haven’t been X’d out below and reply with your mailing address.

Links:

I don’t subscribe to AdAge, so I wasn’t able to read this article I mentioned in my Sunday video. But it really interested me.