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Posted By: barrysloate

The authenticating that grading services provide is a tremendous help for collectors and whether or not you like slabs I think we all agree that nobody wants to get stuck with a counterfeit or altered card. However, I think the grading component really isn't as useful as some may think. It's too subjective, there are undeniable differences in how each service grades, cards can be submitted again and again until a higher grade is attained; and there are many other tricks that submitters have learned that circumvent the system. I think that collectors should learn to grade their own cards, something that we all used to do and is really a part of the learning curve. It's not that hard and with a little experience any collector can learn to grade pretty accurately. I'm all for having a third party cull out a trimmed card, less enthusiastic about the assigned grades.