I'm not a high grade guy myself. As a dealer before I took over the auction I specialized in collector-grade to maybe VG/EX in prewar stuff. EX-NM in 50's and 60's and was focused on helping people complete whatever they were working on, sets, team sets, player runs, etc...
Even now as an auction house I don't think it's in my best interest to try and compete with the companies that can get the PSA 7 and 8 t206's on consignment. If you look at last year's pre-war auction it was largely Poor - VG. Cards that, to me, can be enjoyed without losing too much sleep over them. This year's will be similar in terms of grade (shameless plug it starts on October 2nd!)
If I were ever to offer high grade items in that auction I would be sure to vet them as thoroughly as humanly possible. I WANT people to feel like they can just blindly trust my auctions, even while I would advise against it on principal.
For example I had two and sometimes three guys who know more about photos than me look at my current auction because I didn't want to screw up identifying anything in a corner of the collecting world about which I am only learning. I did everything I could to make sure there were no mistakes. Yet it wouldn't blow my mind if somehow I still got something wrong.
I appreciate good dialogue and good luck in tonight's auction!
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