Posted By:
Frank WakefieldGood find, Jeff, thanks for posting.
Barry, you sound like you've developed concern for grading... If I visited NYC, if we met, if we ate supper, if we talked cards... you sound like I'd think someone would think after such a conversation.
Commercial card grading (somehow the word professional seems inaccurate) seems to be something along the lines of Mr. Madoff's enterprise, on a smaller scale. They make mistakes identifying cards, poses, spelling, trimming, doctoring, spooning, and even whether such a card can exist. First they sell numbers, then numbers with a 'registry', now they've added half numbers.
'Simply Put', I wouldn't collect cards if they all had to be graded. I hate the big holders, difficult to store. I don't want my cards on a wall, so that sunlight might fade them, or to encourage someone to break into my home. I like my cards so that each separate issue stands distinct, instead of all being in uniform slabs. Long ago I left 9 pocket sheets for 15 pocket ones, but soon realized that white border tobacco cards, for example, belong stacked in a cigar box, as they were when they were collected, stacked in teams. It's easy to sort the team by series to appreciate the development of the cards and the change in front designs. I value my cards, and I don't allow tiny children to handle them. The folks that do get to see them might not know necessarily what a particular card is worth, but they are aware of my concern for the card (aside from monetary value) and they're always careful and respectful; were the card in a slab it might as well be used as a coaster. I don't need little slips to help me identify a card, I can look at the front and back and do that, I can look at white border tobacco cards spread on a table, and point out the American Beauty cards. The grade of a card is of minimal importance to me, I care more about the player, the issue, the history of the game; which is just as well since the commercial graders seem to do such a lousy inconsistent job. I like to buy a card for the card's sake, not because it is in a slab with a slip on a registry, I'd rather pay less and have the card, the card is what I'm after. So I don't want money wasted on postage and grading fees. I care not about being on a registry. I enjoy the minutia of T206 infinitely more than I care about PSA... to be Daniel about it, I've not posted in his thread, I'm trying to not Blah someone else's Bling. Card grading sure does Blah the Bling of collecting that I enjoy. This thread about this Jackson card, the thread about the 3 mistakes on the PSA Doyle card, these seem to be Blahs for the hobby as I enjoy it. New collectors get in this, wrapped up with grading, see the foolishness of it, then abandon collecting. We need new young collectors following us, or all we have are worthless bookmarks. So with respect to Daniel's collecting, and I'm glad he collects cards and enjoys it, I'll post this here, not over there.
Frank W.