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Question on Grading Gray Stamps for Pokemon
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5 posts in this topic

Hello,

I think it is really cool that CGC recognizes gray stamp 1st edition pokemon cards and I have several that I am hoping to submit for grading. That said, there are some that I am not sure if they would qualify as "gray stamp" as they are not very light, just barely lighter than usual. With this in mind, is there any rule of thumb I can use before submitting under the "gray stamp" variant of a card? Also, if CGC determines it does not qualify as a gray stamp, would you automatically grade it as a regular variant and update the label, or would this be something I would have to specify when I submit?

 

For an example, below I attached a picture with 5 cards. For card 1 (farthest left/back) I am pretty confident it is a gray stamp, while card 5 (farthest right/top) is a normal dark stamp. Meanwhile, the 3 in the middle I am not too certain on. I think card 4 may be light enough, but cards 2 and 3 are just barely lighter than the normal stamp. I would like to submit cards 1-4 for grading as gray stamp, and if any turn out to not qualify, I would want them graded as normal. Is this possible?

 

 

Thanks!

Matt

20220723_121117.jpg

Edited by Pokemon Mattster
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Okay, thanks.

Related question, if sent for grading as normal and a card is gray stamp, would CGC just grade as normal or change the label to gray stamp?

I have seen several normal graded slabs that would likely qualify as gray stamp, but my guess is whoever sent them in didn't know and submit as gray stamp. I think this is something CGC should definitely try to do given how many people are unfamiliar with gray stamps, and more importantly to ensure the CGC pop reports are as accurate as possible. If a gray stamp submissions are graded as normal if they don't qualify, to me it makes sense for a normal submission to be graded as gray stamp if it qualifies, but perhaps some folks may not like that.

Seems to be no perfect solution to this topic as there is a lot of gray area (pun intended) on what even constitutes a gray stamp, as well as how best to handle submissions when people don't know about gray stamps and/or how to spot them...

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