Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ... a mix of new slabs and some recent pick-ups.

BIG RETAIL PULL NOW VS. THEN
The Card: Christian McCaffrey 2017 Crown Royale Platinum #88 (/49) -- Rookie Card parallel
The Reason Graded: With the NFL season (perhaps) finally coming, I'll let this guy kick things off since it's a rarer card and one that I figured would grade well but did have some fears about with one of the back corners showing some funk. I pulled this one from a mega box (or whatever it was called for this one) while sitting in a snowy Walmart parking lot back in the day only to be bummed that my autograph guaranteed in the box wasn't there ... it was Panini Rewards points. I was more hung up on that than appreciating this card back then, but he's been a playmaker in the league -- so much so I actually got rid of my Donruss and Optic RCs of him without getting them graded. Instead I decided to slab this one.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: It graded better than I had expected -- I was thinking probably a 9 but optimistically a 9.5 -- and I consider this one a win. It's razor-sharp and clean except for that one corner and on the back it may not hurt as much. Either way, I'm good with this one. Only 12 total cards of McCaffrey from this release have been graded and this is the only for this parallel. There have been nine copies of his standard RC graded and only four cards overall equal this one with nothing higher.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

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