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Marc S.I prefer higher-grade cards to lower-grade ones, and my current collecting interests lie primarily in pre-war and 19th century rather than modern. Alterations are a big problem in the hobby, I know and understand that. And I have a good deal of money tied up in my collection.
All that said, these repeated discussions sadden me. If I can't either a) educate myself to some limited degree for becoming comfortable with cards or b) take a leap of faith and trust the dealers/collectors with whom I trade and do business, then the hobby lacks that pizazz that made me want to collect again.
I regard Kevin's expertise and consant experimentation something that makes him a true student of the hobby, and one that can teach many of us what to be careful for. And I wish him great success in any hobby-related ventures that he may take on in a more meaningful context.
But if I can't have fun in this hobby, I'll simply walk away. These dicsussions are important...but in my mind, they should be in the 10% range of what we spend our time discussing. But it seems to be to be a dominant, recurring theme, at which point I question how much "fun" we are all having? Certainly we are not forensic paper anthropologists, where these discussions are enthralling, mind-boggling and interesting so much that we want to relate these stories to our non-hobby friends and family.
~marc