💎 Today I tried something new for the first time — and honestly, I think it's kinda underrated. At the Sports Card Expo I kept seeing higher end vintage slabs with this little diamond sticker on them. So being curious and young I asked a few dealers, and they all said the same thing: MBA — Mike Baker Authenticated. If you’ve never heard of it, here’s the deal: Vintage is all about eye appeal. The higher eye appeal the more value it has. Just because two cards have the same grade, doesn’t mean they look the same. One might be way better centered, have sharper corners, or just have way better color. MBA, is a trusted source which says “Yeah, this card stands out within its grade.”
And if it does, they'll give it a Diamond sticker — Silver, Gold, or even Black if it’s crazy good. This sticker can actually bump up a cards value up to 5x. Mike Baker the owner of this company was actually one of PSA’s original head graders — so he's a very trusted source in the hobby. They also offer a digital service which I am trying out with my MJ PSA 5 Rookie to see if it’s Diamond-worthy… 🤞
Let’s see what happens 👀

If you’re into this kind of stuff — rare cards, eye appeal debates, hobby talk — pull up in the NEW Tropic Collects Mantel group:
👉 tropiccollects.com/mantel

Let’s talk cardboard. 🗣💬