Is GAI a good grading company?

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Posted By: <b>Richey</b><p>I have heard that it is run by the old top grader with PSA. Is this true? And what do yall think of this company?

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Posted By: <b>TBob</b><p>I was a little leary of them when they first came out but those cards I have bought in GAI holders have been very fairly graded, I thought.<BR>On that note, I received an SGC 80 M116 Sporting Life card in the mail today. Only the front was pictured. Oh-oh. The back had back damage (paper loss), not much but it's there. How in the world did that happen? Did the twinkie eaters have a hot date that night and miss it? I am going to keep the card but I have learned another lesson on the slabbing front...

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Posted By: <b>Hankron</b><p>Richey, especially when compared to the likes of PRO, AAA and many of the other so-called graders, GAI should be considered competant.<BR><BR>Yes, you will hear someone say this or that negative about GAI. But, remember, people on this and other boards board fight like cats and dogs over PSA Versus SGC and PSA Versus Beckett and SGC Versus Beckett-- so someone's PSA Versus GAI or SGC Versus GAI arguments should be taken with a due amount of salt.<BR><BR>There are the dregs and suspects of grading (PRO, GEM, AAA, etc). Whether one thinks PSA is better than SGC or GAI is better than Beckett, I think that most will agree PSA, SGC, GAI and BVG fly high above the dregs.<BR><BR>It is also true that GAI is headed by the former heads of PSA.

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Posted By: <b>Hankron</b><p>I don't know what childhood experiences Bob had, but I notice the reoccouring theme of incompetance being represented as a young person who eats twinkies.

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Posted By: <b>botn</b><p>Global Authentication is one of the three top grading services. Do not let the fact that they are one of the newer services scare you. There is an incredible amount of competence and experience in the grading room. <BR><BR>If you are going to use a grading company you should select from GAI, SGC and PSA.<BR><BR>Greg

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Posted By: <b>julie</b><p>I have bought 4 or 5 GAI graded cards, and found most of them to be undergraded--and they are the DEVIL to get out of the holder! I buy a good deal from Shoebox, and they send a lot of stuff to GAI&gt; I got a '53 Bowman Mantle, GAI6 from them and--I couldn't find anything wrong with it!<BR><BR>Twinkies have a lot of sugar, and being high on sugar, or in a sugar crash (needing it cause you're used to it) can result in--abbarent or irresponsible behavior. At least, that's what Dan White's lawyers argued when defending him against a charge of assassinating Councelman Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone of San Francisco.<BR><BR>White was given a light sentence, but committed suicide aboiut a year after his release.

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Posted By: <b>TBob</b><p>has nothing to do with my favorite baseball team nor Dan White. It is the picture I have in my mind of a PSA/SGC/slabbing "expert" 18 year old imparting his wisdom of grading while eating junk food. Please substitute ding-dongs or ho-hos if you like. <BR>You can sing the praises of the slabbers forever but as long as certain submitters receive preferential treatment, I will always rail against them. And PULEEZE don't insult my intelligence or the intelligence of 90% of those on this board by telling me that there is a company which is an exception to the "who submits and how many they submit" favoritism. <BR>I'll not debate who does the best job of accurate grading (I know PSA is the worst at identification with their mislabeling of cards), that's another subject for another day and many of the apologists/supporters of one company or another in Atlantic City and would undoubtedly love to pipe in on that hashed and re-hashed subject.

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Posted By: <b>julie</b><p>..,and the impared judgement it can induce, according to some people.<BR><BR>But the phrase "Twinkie Insanity" was certainly making the rounds around here, then.

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Posted By: <b>Hankron</b><p>Bob, I am confident that I have the most healthful diet of anyone on this board, so you can always accept my authenticity opinions without hesitation. I have not once had a twinkie or ho ho even in the same room with me when I've posted on this board or writen a sale description.

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>I haven't had any bad experiences with GAI yet, because I haven't tried them...and won't. Common sense tells me that if they are going to compete with SGC, PSA, etc., then they are going to have to succumb to the same practices, and probably already have. If they declare themselves to be an altruistic non-profit company, existing purely to introduce honesty and ethics into the slabbed card world, then I might change my mind. <BR><BR>Cards are NOT slabbed in order to prove they are authentic, or have not been altered - we have found way too many examples of violations for this to be true, from all the major grading companies. Cards are slabbed either for protection, display purposes, or to increase market value. The latter of the three reasons being the most common, think a little about the things that could be done to a card to increase market value, and the incentive to do them on the part of the card owner, and to ignore them (or maybe even encourage them) on the part of the slabber.

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Posted By: <b>julie</b><p>my is impression is always that they are trying to give an honest assessment of the various aspects of the card's preservation--and occasionally, original quality (centering, photo or lithographic excellence (contrast, clarity)--and that, for this service, they have charged money for their time, effort and expertise. I guess, if I did collect graded cards, I would buy GAI-encapsulated ones as often as possible.<BR><BR>Since they're all coming out of their slabs, I don't consciously look for a particular "brand," but at the card inside.

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>...that would be the company's (any slabbing company) line as well - if they said anything else we would ignore their oversights and they would go out of business.