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 ...

MY FIRST WEM-BAM!-YAMA ...
The Card: Victor Wembanyama 2023-24 Panini Prizm Green Prizms -- Rookie Card parallel
The Reason Graded: My first -- and actually only -- batch of Prizm NBA blasters included this gem and I knew instantly that it would be in a slab once I saw its centering and then no issues among the sometimes-pesky edges for Prizm and similar stock of the last few years. (Sometimes clean ... sometimes not.) In this case, I had this one in a box headed for grading even before I had its Buzz Break box broken down and posted here ... and it's a solid keeper for me vs. my Hoops finds that all had things that me scared off of slabbing them.
The Grade: CGC 10 (Pristine)

Reality Check: That's pretty much the perfect scenario isn't it? Top grade for a retail blaster -- at suggested retail price even -- pull ... even if there's a curtain that seemed to lather up some people out there. This won't be the last you see of this generational talent in this series ... but this is it for this month's slabs.

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

Continue reading →