XRC - Extended Rookie Card. Typically designated as such because a card was issued as part of an extended or traded set, not a part of a regular base set (notably Star Co. basketball cards became the exception when Beckett made the designation of XRC).
Rookie or Rookie Card ("RC") - A rookie card is typically a player's first appearance on a card licensed by the league and issued as part of a team set through a regular base set. An exception is if the player did not have a card issued as part of a regular base set. For example, because Terry Porter did not have a regular base year card, his 1985-86 Star/Franz #10 issue could have been designated as a rookie card.
TXRC - "True" Extended Rookie Card or "True Extended Rookie Card". Because many Star Co. cards that under normal principles would have been designated as rookie cards were instead designated as XRC's, the term TXRC refers to those cards that would have otherwise been designated an XRC if normal principles applied. Here, the term will often simultaneously apply to FPLC's that were issued as part of a subset and could have been designated as XRC's.
FPLC - First Professionally Licensed Card - a player's first card licensed by the particular sports league (i.e. the NBA).
TRC - "True" Rookie Card or “True Rookie Card”, a term distinct from rookie and XRC. While the 1986-87 Fleer #57 is considered Michael Jordan's rookie card, many people still consider the 1984-85 Star #101 XRC to be his "True Rookie Card", as it is his first card in a NBA licensed regular base year set and predates the Fleer card by two years. While the industry designation will remain Star #101 XRC and Fleer #57 rookie, TRC is an entirely different term which even Beckett has used. The same principle applies to players other than Michael Jordan.
For some reason, SGC labels the 1952 Topps Mantle and Mays as rookie cards, even though the 1951 Bowman and Mays cards are considered their rookie cards. While the 1952 Topps Mantle and Mays sell for more than their 1951 Bowman counterparts, the Star Co. TRC's are worth more than the 1986-87 Fleer counterparts in raw form in part because they are rarer and predated them.
GAI - "Global Authentic Inc.", a defunct company that was founded in 2002 by PSA’s former President, Steve Rocchi, and former head grader, Mike Baker. GAI graded Star Co. cards after it was trained by Steve Taft. Common problems related to the case in which slippage of cards in the holder occurred and cards were prone to touch the black gaskets. Also some cards were inside the holders in penny savers and some were not. Some coloring to the edges on the back of the cards may or may not be related to the black GAI gasket. GAI graded bags from the public. However, there were some resealed bags that GAI graded and are typically found in the smaller GAI holders. The cause of this was that Steve Taft had trained two individuals directly, but then a notorious unscrupulous individual who authenticated many counterfeit autographs for the company was assigned to grade Star Co. cards for several months without receiving any training. The two most common resealed bags that were graded were the 1983-84 Dallas Mavericks team set and the 1986 Best New subset. The larger bag holders are typically recognized for better protecting the cards and not damaging the corners. The smaller cases might be fine for storing a 1985-86 Knicks bag with only seven cards but with more cards in the bag the smaller GAI cases were notorious for damaging corners (i.e. a 1984-85 Olympic/Specials bag). Fake GAI holders and slabs have surfaced.
Global Authority - unclear whether or not defunct or who is still running this company, a different company that opened after GAI. There is no issue of slippage of cards in the holders. The only one from Global Authority who directly received training from Steve Taft was Mike Baker, who, upon information and belief, is no longer with the company. We do not recommend sending any cards to Global Authority. In response to free grading trials, Global Authority received many submissions, fell behind, and there were complaints with respect to the return of cards to people. Shop at Home cards have appeared in Global Authority cases, which is a sign that Mike Baker is likely no longer with the company or grading all the cards as was intended.
SCD - not to be confused with Sports Card Direct, this term in the Star Co. world refers to Sports Collectors Digest. Steve Taft and Todd Crossner trained SCD. SCD cards were graded by Chris Nerat who was generally recognized as having done a strong job with respect to grading Star Co. basketball cards. The SCD overall grade was based upon a .5 system with subgrades of whole numbers (one whole number for centering, one whole number for corners/edges and one whole number for surface). A common complaint was that the edges of the cards could hit the black holder, which had nothing to do with the quality of the grading being done. SCD stopped grading all cards, not only Star Co. cards, when it believed it was not grading enough cards to be profitable.
UT - Untouched, used by SCD when it graded cards right out of an original Star Co. bag. Recognized as a nice, innovative technique for grading Star Co. cards.
BGS - Beckett Grading Services. By grading Star Co. basketball cards, BGS is the only one of the "big three" grading companies that is a full-service grading company. By giving four subgrades for modern cards, it is the only one of the "big three" grading companies with the courage to give four reasons that justify its opinion and take the time to do so. In order to properly protect consumers, it is the only one of the "big three" grading companies that makes a case that cannot be compromised in addition to providing an inner sleeve to protect the cards from movement damage. In order to be fair and reasonable with customers, it charges the same grading fee no matter what the value of the card is (arguably grading a card is the same work no matter what a card is worth) and adheres to its guaranteed turnaround times for grading orders.
BCCG - Beckett Collectors Club Grading. This is a different grading service than BGS or BVG, traditionally known as a high volume grading service offered by Beckett. It was originally created in response to a television program which was selling cards from an unknown grading company and the cards were repeatedly graded 10. BCCG uses a 5 to 10 point grading scale with only whole numbers (no .5's). The same graders that grade BGS cards grade BCCG cards. However, the typical BCCG case is different than the BGS/BVG case in that it can be compromised and does not come with an inner sleeve to protect the cards from movement damage. People often confuse the conversion of BCCG cards. A BCCG 10 may be a BGS 9.5 for example depending on whether or not the order was placed with the request to pull out all 9.5's from the grading order and grade them as BGS 9.5's as opposed to BCCG 10. We note, however, that people can take a BGS or BVG graded card and cross to BCCG to attempt to obtain more money. The conversions are as follows:
BCCG 10 - high BGS 8.5 to BGS 10 and is called "Mint or Better"
BCCG 9 - BGS 7 to a mid-BGS 8.5 and is called "Near Mint or Better"
BCCG 8 - BGS 5 to BGS 6.5 and is called "Excellent or Better"
BCCG 7 - BGS 3 to BGS 4.5 and is called "Very Good or Better"
BCCG 6 - BGS 2 to BGS 2.5 and is called "Good or Better"
BCCG 5 - BGS 1 to BGS 1.5 and is called "Poor or Better"
Beckett Authentic - means that the card is real and unaltered, but that a grade was not requested. Often done to prove authenticity for a card that would not grade well. Unfortunately, sometimes sellers take a low grade card and change it to "Beckett Authentic" to try and obtain more money.
Beckett Authentic Altered - means that the card is real, but in Beckett's opinion the card has been altered in some manner.
Unauthorized Reprint - a card that was previously issued by a company as an original card that is then reprinted from an original plate without authorization by the company or its owner. No Star Co. cards were reprinted from the original plate. However, if someone wanted to say the Type II's are reprints and not pre-print samples/scraps/rejects that were meant to be destroyed, it likely cannot be disproven. The more important point though is that the Type II's can be distinguished from the original Star Co. cards.
Authorized Reprint - reprints of cards that are legal and authorized (i.e. in 1996 Topps authorized release of some 1996 Star Co. cards such as prior key XRC's and the cards say reprint on back).
Counterfeit - a fake that is printed to try and imitate an original card. There is no high quality fake of any Star Co. card. Whether or not any grading company ever graded a counterfeit does not mean the fake is of such high quality that it cannot be distinguished from an original card.
Type II's or Type II Counterfeit - this term refers to the 100 cards printed on the same sheet of Star Co. cards from the original Star Co. plates that were likely scraps/rejects that were printed off-line (off-register) and meant to be destroyed and stolen by two print shop employees. These 100 cards are 1985-86 #95-172 (including White and Green Celtics), 10 card 1986 Jordan subset, and 4 card 1986 Best New subset. The reason that the Type II's are considered counterfeit is because they were not distributed to any original Star Co. dealer, were not authorized for release by the Star Co. owner, and can be distinguished from the original cards that were distributed to Star Co. dealers and authorized for release by the Star Co. It was the submission of these cards for grading to PSA that lead it to stop grading Star Co. basketball cards.
UER - Uncorrected Error. The term means that the card had an error that was not corrected. While it is interesting to know what the error was, it does not necessarily increase the value of the card. An example is 1985-86 Star #10 Isiah Thomas in which the Pistons team logo did not print at the bottom front left portion of the card.
Shop at Home/Shop at Home Scandal - new cards that never existed in the first place were printed and backdated in 1997 by Robert Levin through the use of a printer in Florida. Levin falsely claimed to have produced these cards when the Star Co. had a contract with the NBA and had not previously released them to the public. The cards were sold through the Shop at Home channel and often with a letter of authentication signed by Robert Levin on Star International, Inc. letterhead. A letter's typical representations were that 1,500 sets were made and held in the safe in 1985 and not released to the public while falsely claiming the cards to be 100% authentic and original. Shop at Home cards are often referred to as "fantasy issue cards" because they were not part of the database of the original cards released. Because original photos were used with different color borders to make cards that never existed in the original Star Co. distribution, no Shop at Home card resembles an original Star Co. card. It is improper to refer to Shop at Home cards as reprints because the cards never existed in the first place as original Star Co. cards.
These cards lead to an investigation by the NBA and lawsuit on behalf of the NBA against the Star Co. owner and Shop at Home. While people were allowed to get their money back, there are still people selling originals of these cards on eBay. There are also people copying the cards and using copies of the letter to sell those copies of the cards. There are also people now printing up "unreleased" cards that were not Shop at Home cards (i.e. Michael Jordan in a UNC uniform) and trying to make them look like Shop at Home cards.
Regular base year set - there were three regular base year sets for the Star Co. (1983-84, #1-275; 1984-85, #1-288; and 1985-86, #1-172, but has both Green and White Celtics which relate to #95-101).
Subset - Star Co. issued many subsets, which were sets issued outside of the three regular base sets and which often commemorated certain events (i.e. 1985 Star Lite All Stars, 1985 Star Gatorade Slam Dunk, 1985 Star Crunch 'N' Munch All-Stars) and elite players of the time such as Dr. J, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and, belatedly, Magic Johnson.
SP - Short Print. While people on eBay from time to time list certain cards as Short Print that are not in fact considered Short Print, Beckett's magazines and population report on-line note SP for cards that are considered Short Print.
"PSA Effect" - the decision by PSA to stop grading Star Co. basketball cards and now to refuse to grade them (or learn how to grade them), arguably without a justifiable basis, which causes many people to incorrectly infer that original cards cannot be distinguished from counterfeit cards. PSA made this decision when grading was in its infancy and PSA was trying to build a grading company. Its early advertisements used the now infamous PSA 8 Honus Wagner card and alleged it could detect trimmed cards and did not grade sheet cut cards. Rather than learn to properly authenticate Star Co. basketball cards, it appears to have wanted no part of them. This lead to the incorrect interpretation that grading companies cannot learn to tell the difference between real Star Co. basketball cards and counterfeit cards. While ungraded cards encompass a significant portion of the sports card market, the fact that the Star Co. cards are able to be authenticated and graded by those willing to learn should put a positive light on them. Ironically, PSA grades Star Co. baseball cards, which include cards printed on the same sheets as the basketball cards, yet refuses to learn to grade Star Co. basketball cards.
Sports Market Report ("SMR") - A monthly guide published by PSA for trading cards and memorabilia. It contains prices for PSA-graded cards and articles about the industry. Because PSA does not grade Star Co. basketball cards, it essentially delists them by not including them in the SMR Report as it does not provide market prices or include them in any of its articles.
Robert Levin - founder and owner of the Star Co.
Schonco - William (often called Bill) R. Schonsheck's company in the early 1990s before he focused on other matters. His partner was Christopher Sanchirico. Schonco was one of three individuals who purchased cards directly from Robert Levin in the Star auction in the early 1990's, with the rights for future purchases. His last purchase from the Star Co. owner was in 1996. Schonco was not an original Star Co. dealer. Neither Schonsheck nor Sanchirico are believed to be actively involved in Star Co. basketball cards any more, having sold their collection. It is a misconception, however, to state that all cards from the Schonco Collection were purchased directly from the Star Co. owner as Schonco also purchased directly from other Star Co. dealers and made numerous other purchases over the years. Since the Schonco Collection has been sold, it is possible and likely that owner of that collection could have made his own purchases.
Steve Taft - original Star Co. dealer who is a long-time sports card dealer. Renowned Star Co. expert who trained SCD along with Todd Crossner and solely trained GAI and BGS on authenticating Star Co. basketball cards. While Taft trained the companies, he never graded for them. Taft was a major contributor of information on this site. His ebay store can be found at http://stores.ebay.com/stevetaft-sports-and-coins?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 and his Beckett store can be found at https://marketplace.beckett.com/stevetaft_604.
Todd Crossner - one of the three individuals who purchased Star Co. cards directly from Star Co. owner Robert Levin through auction in the early 1990's. Crossner also was a recognized Star Co. expert who trained SCD along with Steve Taft in authenticating Star Co. cards. At this time, it is believed that he is no longer active with Star Co. basketball cards.
Mark Anderson - former BGS Director of Grading who was instrumental in building up the grading company and in its decision to grade Star Co. cards. |
