Grading Co. Burlesque
 

Posted By: <b>ty_cobb</b><p>Where does grading belong long term in the hobby?<BR>At this time most high quality cards are slabbed,<BR>so the short term gain of a dealer slabbing a '5' <BR>and dressing it up as a 6 for profit are gone.<BR><BR>I've wanted to address this subject a year ago,<BR>but the big 'love-in' with SGC for vintage slabbing<BR>got in the way of useful discussion.<BR><BR>Since then there's been the inevitable, WIWAG,<BR>more recently an alleged fake PSA M101 Thorpe,<BR>(looks like a fake to me too) , and the PSA<BR>submissions debacle (condolences to Dan McKee<BR>on the lost card).<BR><BR>My perception of Grading Co's after a year's time is that<BR>a)long-term hobby quality assurance is just not there<BR>b)there is a notion that grading confers an illusionary<BR> security, when in fact at this period in time said<BR> companies appear to be looking at reducing liability<BR> in any areas they can.<BR>c)the grading almost inevitably has to get worse as <BR> the gold rush of high grade finds is over. 5 years<BR> from now there will be nothing left to do except<BR> liberate a Kit Young 2002 Topps T206 common and<BR> grade it a '3'. <BR> <BR>I'm beginning to think we might be better off with<BR>trimmed cards in 10 years time! The very cards we<BR>sought to denigrate and pooh-pooh might be all we<BR>can identify as 'original' by then.