Posted By:
Al C.risafulliWhile I understand the argument that it should take no more time and effort to grade a T206 Wagner than it does to grade a T206 Lena Blackburne, I have absolutely no qualms about paying more to grade the more valuable card.
In my mind, it has nothing whatsoever to do with liability or guarantees or whatnot, although that certainly is a concern. In my mind it has to do with the dollars involved with more valuable cards.
I see this all the time with Goudey Ruths, but the same could be said for virtually any high-dollar card: when I see it raw, there is always some question about the card. Is it authentic? Has an edge been trimmed? Is the seller failing to disclose a flaw in the card that doesn't show up in a scan, like a wrinkle or a slight print defect, or paper loss? Exactly how much money am I willing to spend on a Goudey Ruth that LOOKS good but may not be as advertised?
Being somewhat risk-averse with respect to throwing around money, I'm not likely to buy that card at all.
Once it's in a slab, though, I can be sure that the card is authentic, I can be reasonably sure that the card is unaltered, and I can be reasonably sure that the card is in the condition advertised. I know that when a seller describes a card as "EXCELLENT" condition, that I still can't be sure what I'm getting. When the card says "SGC 60" or PSA 5 or GAI 8 or whatever, I have an entirely different level of confidence in what I'm bidding on/buying. To me, that confidence is worth something extra.
I would almost never spend a lot of money on an ungraded card that I couldn't hold in my hand first. There are only a handful of sellers that I would feel confident enough with to buy ungraded cards from with any sort of regularity. Once the card is in a holder, many of my concerns are alleviated.
I know that many other collectors feel the same way.
As far as I'm concerned, all it takes is getting burned once on a higher-dollar raw card to happily pay the premium to get it graded. I'm sure that others don't agree with me, and that's fine - it's a big hobby and there's room for all of us. But I have no more problem paying more money to grade a high-dollar card than I do paying more to insure it, store it, or display it. I think it protects me, helps preserve the value of the card, helps preserve its condition, and helps buyers be more confident in a time when so many of the cards we buy are purchased over the internet, without holding the card in hand first. I'll pay a premium for confidence, I guess.
Just my two cents. With me, two cents gets you a lot of words.
-Al