The grading scale isn’t hard to understand.
PSA 10s are harder to achieve than PSA 9s, so they command higher prices on the secondary market.
The concept of supply and demand is also simple, but the hobby is nuanced, so hobbyists will ask nuanced questions.
There’s no doubt PSA 10s should be more valuable than PSA 9s, but collectors often want to know by how much? There have been more cards graded a PSA 10 (24.88 million) than a PSA 9 (22.35 million), after all.
The answer to how much is complicated, but a glance at some of the hobby’s most popular and iconic cards reveals a number of interesting narratives between the two grades.
Here’s a look at 10 sports cards with surprising price gaps between a perfect 10 and the mint 9.
1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Base No. 57
According to third-party grading tracker GemRate, no athlete has been graded by PSA more than Jordan, with more than 1.5 million cards. Of those, no card has been more coveted — at least until recently — than the 1986 Fleer No. 57.
Graded 27,637 times, Jordan’s “rookie” has secured a PSA 10 just 326 times, with 3,015 PSA 9s. According to data tool Market Movers, there is currently a 9.90 ratio between the two grades, with a PSA 10 example recently selling for $184,220 at Goldin, while a PSA 9 example sold for $18,600.
Over the last year, all Jordan PSA 10s tracked by Market Movers have held a 7.0 price ratio over the PSA 9s.
2023 Prizm Victor Wembanyama No. 136
Over the last year, no player has had more sales tracked by Market Movers than Victor Wembanyama’s nearly 290,000, and only Michael Jordan has had more graded card sales tracked.
To date, PSA has graded 356,422 Wembanyama cards, the 10th most all-time among athletes from any sport. And of those cards, none has been slabbed more than his 2023 Prizm Base No. 136, which has gemmed 61% of the time.
Despite a PSA 10 population of over 21,000 — about 10,000 more than the PSA 9 — there is a sizable delta between Gem Mint and Mint. According to Market Movers, there is a 4.05 price ratio between the grades, with a PSA 10 recently fetching $115, while a PSA 9 was closer to $28.
Hobbyists have questioned recent trends that show raw ultra-modern cards selling for similar prices as PSA 9s. This Wembanyama Prizm Base is one of those cards, recently selling for around $26 in raw condition.
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. No. 1
The most graded card ever surely has enough PSA 10s to meet demand. Right? Well, not quite. The 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. No. 1, by far the most submitted card of all time with more than 113,000 graded by PSA, has gemmed just 4% of the time for just 4,177 total PSA 10s.
The scarcity of the 10s, compared to the more than 31,000 PSA 9s, has created a price ratio of 11.57 between the two grades with a PSA 10 example recently selling for $2,030, while a PSA 9 fetched just $175.
During the trading card industry’s price boom, a PSA 10 sold for as much as $5,412.
1986 Topps Jerry Rice No. 161
It should come as no surprise that the highest price ratios between PSA 10s and PSA 9s occur when iconic rookie cards are plagued by a number of issues ranging from quality control to condition sensitivity.
Considered one of the greatest football sets ever created, 1986 Topps Football featured Jerry Rice’s rookie card with a green and white border — a border that is extremely prone to surface damage. Of the more than 36,000 Rice rookie cards submitted to PSA, only 63 have scored 10s, while just 1,101 scored 9s.
According to Market Movers, there’s currently a 38.70 price ratio between the two grades, with a PSA 10 recently selling for $87,000 at Heritage, and a PSA 9 selling for $2,245 on eBay.
2015 Upper Deck Connor McDavid Young Guns Base No. 201
Young Guns rookies are the cards to chase for many hockey collectors, and arguably none has been more important during the ultra-modern era than the 2015 Upper Deck Connor McDavid Young Guns No. 201.
The interesting aspect about this card is there are more PSA 10s than PSA 9s, and the 10s still command a 3.16 price ratio over mint grades. In total, PSA has graded more than 6,400 copies of the card, and nearly 3,000 have gemmed.
According to Market Movers, a recent PSA 10 example fetched $3,000 on eBay, while a PSA 9 sold for just $950.
1993 SP Derek Jeter Foil No. 279
The foil finish for 1993 SP Baseball is what makes the set so special to many collectors. That foil is also what makes the cards nearly impossible to find in high grades with so many surface issues.
According to GemRate, just 5% of the more than 36,000 cards from the set submitted to PSA have come back as 10s. It’s been even harder to find the key Derek Jeter No. 279 in high grades, with just 22 of the more than 25,000 copies submitted to PSA gemming over the years — when rounding, this Jeter rookie scores a PSA 10 about 0% of the time.
With just 22 PSA 10s, compared to 632 PSA 9s, there has been a 80.10 price ratio between the two grades, with a PSA 10 selling for $317,200 at Goldin in August, while a PSA 9 example recently sold for a little less than $4,000.
1985 Topps WWF Hulk Hogan No. 1
The debut trading card set for the WWF, 1985 Topps WWF has remained one of the toughest grades decades later. In total, just 4% of cards from the set have secured PSA 10s, with Hulk Hogan No. 1 gemming just 15 times after more than 2,400 grades.
PSA 9 examples aren’t exactly easy to find either, with just 195, though they remain achievable for most collectors. According to Market Movers, there’s a 24.93 price ratio between the two grades, with a PSA 10 selling most recently for $14,000 in 2023, while a PSA 9 copy sold for $562 in September.
2021 Prizm Trevor Lawrence Silver No. 331
Though the ultra-modern era has introduced a number of complicated parallel designs that come with a variety of quality control issues, collectors, for the most part, expect the majority of base cards and simple parallels to score well.
That isn’t the case for Trevor Lawrence’s 2021 Prizm Silver No. 331, which has been graded more than 1,600 times with just 129 gems. The top quarterback from his class, collectors have been disappointed to see issues with Lawrence’s key cards specifically — the same Silver has fared much better for others from the set, gemming 32% of the time for Justin Fields, 49% of the time for Mac Jones and 40% of the time for Ja’Marr Chase.
The 8% gem rate for Lawrence’s Prizm Silver has resulted in a 14.27 price ratio between the PSA 10 and the PSA 9, with a 10 recently fetching $899, compared to $63 for a PSA 9. The price for a PSA 9 also isn’t far off from recent sales for raw examples, which have recently trended around $43.
1996 SkyBox Kobe Bryant E-X2000 No. 30
Few products were more beloved in the 1990s than SkyBox releases, and the 1996 E-X2000 set has remained a favorite among collectors ever since.
Featuring incredible eye appeal with transparent “windows” as part of the design, the cards are also incredibly condition sensitive, and are among the hardest to find in high grades. According to GemRate, just 1% of cards from the set have gemmed through nearly 16,000 submissions.
The most coveted rookie from the set, which also included rookies for Allen Iverson, Ray Allen and Stephon Marbury, the Kobe Bryant No. 30 has just 24 total PSA 10s through nearly 6,700 submissions — for an average of about 0%.
The extreme scarcity has resulted in a 13.85 price ratio between PSA 10s and PSA 9s, with a 10 last selling for $15,900 in 2023, while a PSA 9 sold for $1,145 earlier this month.
1980 Topps Rickey Henderson No. 482
With more than 40,000 total graded copies, examples of Rickey Henderson’s rookie card aren’t hard to find. Finding a gem-mint copy is nearly impossible, however.
Plagued by centering issues and heavy handling by many collectors, the more than 150,000 submissions of 1980 Topps Baseball have gemmed just 13% of the time, with Henderson rounding to about 0%.
With just 25 PSA 10 examples — compared to the more than 2,200 PSA 9s — there’s a massive 109.09 price ratio for Henderson’s rookie between the grades. A PSA 10 copy last sold in August for $180,000 at Heritage, and a PSA 9 sold for $1,560 earlier this month.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.