I posted this in a thread when I first joined Net54 (and seen it discussed in other threads as well) but I'll say it again. It absolutely blows my mind that multi-million dollar companies make these assessments without any, or maybe a minimum of, 21st century technology. We all know even a 1 pt change in a TPGs grading of a card can have huge ramifications in that cards value. Just looking on eBay today, a 1987 Donruss Greg Maddux RC SGC 98 is about a $80 card - SGC 100 is a $600-800 card. And that's a modern rookie - we saw the same thing at HA with the PSA 8.5 and 9 Mantle 52 Topps cards. I know everyone who saw the 9 raves about the card and from the scans, I agree, but that's something like a $1.6 million change over 1/2 point grade. Not even getting into the discussion of TPG changing standards over time.
My background is in engineering and I've seen quality related equipment that can measure down to the 1/100 th of a mm. It's impossible to believe that there is not scanning software available that could grade a card electronically (corners, centering, etc). You could also have permanent storage of the scan for any future needs. Maybe things like focus, clarity would still be subjective but the technology is out there to make something this important and $ related as objective and scientific as possible.
I may be misinformed about how cards are currently graded by the TPGs and I hope I am, but no matter how experienced or trained a grader may or may not be, grading solely by visual inspection should have been abandoned in the last century.
Rant over...Carry on
