Posted By:
jeff If a grader's only task is to grade a card based on how "good" or "nice" it looks, then his job would be so easy as to be unnecessary. The aesthetic appeal of a card and the technical grade assigned by a grader are two different critters. That's what everybody means by "buy the card, not the grade."
One more point of disagreement: grading companies do not compete with each other for the title of "Most Strict." They compete for the title of "most Accurate" and "most Consistent."
So, if an otherwise beautiful card has paper loss or print loss on the back, it has permanently lost some of its integrity. It's not whole. It is a low grade card, no better than VG, regardless of how pretty it looks. They have to be consistent.