Using Eye Appeal to Buy the Card and Not the Grade

Using Eye Appeal to Buy the Card and Not the Grade

When it comes to buying vintage cards, one thing we love to do is buy the card and not the grade! What do we mean by this? Vintage Breaks is here to tell you all about EYE APPEAL.

Not all graded cards are equal. You know that when your cards are graded by the biggest grading companies in the world such as PSA or SGC, you usually receive a grade of 1 to 10 with 10 being gem mint perfect. Not every PSA or SGC "1" grades are the same, though; this is where EYE APPEAL comes into play.

 

Three 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie cards above. Every card received the same grade: 1.  As you go left to right, notice how stained the Mantle graded by SGC is. That bottom right corner is as round as can be, too. The card in the middle, graded by PSA, also has staining but fewer stains than the first card. Each corner is a little rounded on the middle card and there are some scuff marks on the surface. The card on the far right is also a PSA 1 but look how bright that blue sky is! Each corner is SHARP, too.  Card three is not centered as well as cards one and two, and there is a little paper loss on the right-hand side on the border.

Three cards. Same grade. All different variations of a "one." 

Which card would YOU buy? You're probably leaning the middle card because of the centering or the card all the way to the right because of the color and sharp corners. Why did you pass on card number one, though? Eye appeal. You picked the card and not the grade!

One thing we focus on here at Vintage Breaks is eye appeal. We're one of the biggest SET BREAKERS in the Country. If you haven't joined a legendary VB set break yet, wrote a blog to explain What is a Set Break? 

Here is an example of one of our current set breaks:

 

Our 1951 Bowman baseball set break top cards have great eye appeal! The Mickey Mantle has a little stain on the top border but a clean, well-centered card with nice corners and no marks that make you turn your head. The Ted Williams card is a NICE SGC 2 on the right-hand side. 

 

Look how gorgeous that 1961 Fleer Bill Russell card looks for a FIVE! This trio of Hall of Famers is part of our 1961 Fleer Basketball set break.

Another tip you might enjoy with eye appeal is to focus on the front of the card. Sometimes, you can get a beautiful card with a front that looks like the card just came out of a pack, but the back may have paper loss. Our grandparents and maybe our parents used to put their cards in albums, sticker books - on their bed posts.  When the cards were peeled off, some of the back of the cards were missing paper making that grade a ONE, but a pretty one. The same for wax stains from the wrapper or gum (remember when packs had gum?) on the back of cards! A little gum stain on the back makes for a one, but the front looks spectacular in your case. 

Our owner, Leighton Sheldon, specializes in vintage cards and collections. For 25+ years, Leighton has purchased thousands upon thousands of collections. For a quarter Century, Leighton has bought and sold over 50 million dollars in collections with both Vintage Breaks and our sister company, Just Collect. When you join a Vintage Breaks set break, know that we choose our top cards based on EYE APPEAL so they look great in your collection. We wouldn't offer you a card that we wouldn't want in our own personal collection. 

Interested joining the next Vintage Breaks set break? Grab your spots HERE.

Aside from set breaks, we choose cards based on eye appeal for our Card Vault Rip Packs. These repacks are catered by Leighton Sheldon and include stunning cards! Inside each mystery repack is a card hand-picked by Leighton. Ready to see a card we pulled?

Now that you're ready to get a card based on eye appeal over grade, come join our breaks any time! You can get a spot now HERE.

WHY CHOOSE VINTAGE BREAKS?

Vintage Breaks offers THE BEST VALUE IN BREAKING.

We ship ALL cards! While other companies may not ship "base" or "vets", we ship you every card of yours from our breaks. Your cards come sleeved, as well.

Bonuses! We pride ourselves on giving away more bonus card, packs, and break credit around. Our bonuses are stacked each and every day.

Lack of product in stores has been a problem; we see the same empty shelves that you do. If you can't find cards, Vintage Breaks is your solution.

FUN!  Cards are our passion! Isn't it just more fun to chat with other collectors? Come hang with us and other collectors just like you during our breaks!  

At Vintage Breaks, we have our main breaking show in New Jersey (The North), our night owls in the South (Georgia), and the West (Arizona). 

VINTAGE BREAKS IS BUYING!

If you have sealed wax, vintage or modern, that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer.  We're always interested in both sealed product of both sport and non-sport.  Whether you have that pack of 1977 Star Wars, that rare 1955 Bowman cello pack, a wax box of 1984 Topps football, Pokémon, or 2025 Panini Flawless you'd like to sell, we'd love to hear from you!

CONTACT US ANY TIME

If you have any questions about a product, break, shipping, or even if you're interested in SELLING a collection, reach out any time!

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