Quote:
Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy
If you don't think the hobby has become a bigger cesspool of greed and fraud as a result of grading, you've got your head buried in the sand. I would absolutely love to debate this with you on the open forum.
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I don't think I can agree with any statement any more than this one. Having been a collector, show promoter, dealer, store owner and back to collector (kinda in that order) for the better part of 42 years I feel you hit the nail squarely on the head.
The hobby was a very cool place to be in the '70's then greed took over in the 80's with those investors leaving after the card companies tried to capitalize on everyone hoping to put their kids through college with the modern stuff they had stored away. I remember the single player brick ads disappearing around 1990 and the investors leaving the hobby to the collectors soon after. It was only with the introduction of grading in the early 1990's did the investors return when they saw the value in owning the best of the best and determined if a flip had a "10" on it, well then it must be best and values skyrocketed. All one has to do it look at hobby history to know that the hobby has become the cesspool you mentioned since the advent of grading.