Question about Beckett Grading

Actually - it probably pertains to ANY grading company that lists out
the individual scores...

I have an 01-02 BAP Ultimate card - (not that it matters, but it's a
500 Goal Scorers Auto / Jersey) - here's my question:

How does Beckett determine their FINAL grades on the cards that they
look at?

Here's how my question arose... I don't want to sound like I'm
complaining, because I'm not. I'm one of those guys who says "Cool -
it's an Auto'd Jersey card of one of my favorite players from my
favorite team!" - NOT one of those who say "Damn - great card... too
bad the grade is so low." - But these are the grades that this
particular card got:

Centering: 9.5
Corners: 7
Edges: 9
Surface: 9
FINAL GRADE: 7.5

You can probably guess my reason for asking: if I take the average of
the scores: 9.5 + 7 + 9 + 9 = 34.5 / 4 = 8.625

Wouldn't that imply an 8.5? Or even if you knock off a bit for the low
corner score, wouldn't you think still an 8? But instead it's given a
7.5 - and this is something that I've noticed a lot. It seems as
though Dr.Jim's calculators are broken.


Like I said - not that I'm at all concerned with this particular card -
it's a BAP Ultimate afterall - they're kinda all over the place, and I
KNOW that any imperfections aren't because of the abuse the card saw on
the secondary market (heck - Beckett probably caused most damage
themselves...)

My question has more to do with cards that actually gain or lose value
based upon their grades - say an RC... If an RC is give a 9.5 on one
score, and a 7 or a 7.5 on another - the 2 don't seem to cancel each
other out. It seems that a number "below" the card's average grade
hurts that final average waaayyyyy more than a number that is above the
average grade helps it.

Has anyone else noticed this? Anyone know of Beckett's "secret
formula" for determining "average"?

I think each contributing factor (centering,corners,edges,surface) has a
different value towards the final grade. You took the 4 individual grades
and came up with an average, based on each grade counting 25% to the
final grade. But I would think (and this is my own personal view) that the
corners would count a higher percent to the final grade than say the
centering or the surface. Let's say the corners are worth 40% of the final
grade, and the other 3 factors are only worth 20% each, making 100%.
That may be why the final grade is a little lower. This of course
is just my theory.

wrote:

Actually - it probably pertains to ANY grading company that lists out
the individual scores...

I have an 01-02 BAP Ultimate card - (not that it matters, but it's a
500 Goal Scorers Auto / Jersey) - here's my question:

How does Beckett determine their FINAL grades on the cards that they
look at?

Here's how my question arose... I don't want to sound like I'm
complaining, because I'm not. I'm one of those guys who says "Cool -
it's an Auto'd Jersey card of one of my favorite players from my
favorite team!" - NOT one of those who say "Damn - great card... too
bad the grade is so low." - But these are the grades that this
particular card got:

Centering: 9.5
Corners: 7
Edges: 9
Surface: 9
FINAL GRADE: 7.5

You can probably guess my reason for asking: if I take the average of
the scores: 9.5 + 7 + 9 + 9 = 34.5 / 4 = 8.625

Wouldn't that imply an 8.5? Or even if you knock off a bit for the low
corner score, wouldn't you think still an 8? But instead it's given a
7.5 - and this is something that I've noticed a lot. It seems as
though Dr.Jim's calculators are broken.

Like I said - not that I'm at all concerned with this particular card -
it's a BAP Ultimate afterall - they're kinda all over the place, and I
KNOW that any imperfections aren't because of the abuse the card saw on
the secondary market (heck - Beckett probably caused most damage
themselves...)

My question has more to do with cards that actually gain or lose value
based upon their grades - say an RC... If an RC is give a 9.5 on one
score, and a 7 or a 7.5 on another - the 2 don't seem to cancel each
other out. It seems that a number "below" the card's average grade
hurts that final average waaayyyyy more than a number that is above the
average grade helps it.

Has anyone else noticed this? Anyone know of Beckett's "secret
formula" for determining "average"?

I believe that you can only get an overall grade that is .5 higher than the
lowest sub-grade.