Leon, if the consigner sends a ball to REA in good faith and it is authenticated by there expert. Why would he have to pay back the money? It is sort of like the Uda card that sold for $85,000 the guy who sold it never had to pay back the money. It was the people that said it was authentic who where sued.
Take the card side. You pay a lot of money for a card that was graded. You then want to see if you can get a higher grade. It comes back trimmed who do you go after?
Not trying to pick a fight just curious.

On the card side, when you crack a card out of a holder, there are no returns...period. That goes for me too. Once a card is cracked from the holder anything can happen to it. And I don't know of the UDA card so have no comment on it.

Wow, You buy a card for $5,000 and it is in a holder from one of the top gradeing companys. You send it back to them to see if you can get a better grade. Instead it comes back trimmed. You have lost your money and can do nothing about it. I sure as hell would be ticked off.:mad:

Stick to autographs :). You will be much happier :confused:.

Leon, that was a gotcha moment.:eek:

authentication and grading is all a merry go round the way it is being done now, but it doesnt have to be. new reformed guidelines and rules could take all of this away, but too much money is being made right now for anything to change.

think about it. consignor says "hey the authentication company certed it and the auction house took my consignment based on that"

the auction house says "the authentication company certed it so what else can i do"

the authentication company says "it's just our opinion, we don't guarantee authenticity" . for all that hand washing why isn't the hobby clean?


the authentication company's cert adds value to a lot of people so they should have to be on the hook for it somewhat. if authentication company's pocketbook took a hit when their authentications blow up in their face, maybe they will take some more time, resources and care in their authentications rather than just sending 20 something year old kids out to these shows and have them "shapeticate" to rake in the money.

Shelly, my thought about slabbed high-grade cards is that they are now something other than simply a 'card' - they are now a slabbed 'thing' with a slip of paper that has a number on it. Once cracked, it has returned to being what it was beforehand - a card with all the characteristics that it always had (trimming, coloring, nothing at all...).

It's the world that 'we' created.

You might as well say the same thing about a slabbed autograph. Authenticity or lack thereof have absolutely no meaning--it is "now a slabbed 'thing' with a slip of paper that has a number on it. Once cracked, it has returned to being what it was beforehand"-- a signed object that is either genuine or not.

Why are you willing to suspend all your disbelief for a slabbed card, but not a slabbed autograph?

(I am not myself advocating doing either.)