Posted By:
Al CrisafulliOf course, Jim, we've all seen examples of people's "mint" cards being shipped off to grading and having them come back 7s. The response, then, is typically either "Wow, I guess I haven't been grading my cards properly," or "Those grading companies have no idea what they're talking about." When I first got interested in graded cards, my reaction was the former of the two above.
At the end of the day, as a buyer I prefer the third-party analysis, particularly when I can't hold the card in my hand first - even if this means I have to pay more money.
However, let's take a relatively innoccuous card - say, a 1961 Topps Mickey Mantle in an SGC 98 holder. Put it on Ebay and it will fetch thousands of dollars. Take that EXACT SAME CARD, pull it out of the holder, and put it back on Ebay? Hundreds of dollars.
I think the lower grade or more common the card, the less this rings true. However, as you move up the scale of either condition or scarcity, the third-party assessment becomes more of a factor because those cards often attract a different kind of buyer.
I do think there is tremendous value in mid-grade, raw cards. Even today, 75% of what I collect is in raw form. But even people on this board who prefer not to COLLECT graded cards have admitted that when they want to sell cards, they get 'em graded.
-Al