First, I think you need to step back and contemplate just why Third Party Grading arose. To be sure, the grading companies overcharge, while the entire submission process is cumbersome and not user friendly. Be that as it may, buyers were getting burned so often by sellers claiming their wares were such and such high grade, and they simply were not. All they needed was for someone to believe their pitch and viola---sold.
Third party grading is not a perfect system, and there will always be controversies. However, our hobby cannot retreat to the old days of:
"A screamer!"
"Try to find another"
"You could shave with this one."
"Best one I've ever seen."
"Best one I've ever handled."
"Smell the gum."
"Guaranteed pack-fresh."
"I expect a two-page thank-you letter after you get this."
"These have disappeared from the market. You walk away, and this Aaron won't be here when you finally decide you want it and come back! You'll have nightmares of regret to your dying day!"
"This Aaron is the one you've looking for"
With third party grading, a well-experienced card grader has looked at the card. He didn't look very long; they cannot afford to have him agonize for an hour over the sucker. But they are in place because they can call a spade a spade quickly, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
Then, when it's graded and available, and perchance you have the opportunity to buy it, you at least won't have to agonize yourself over the grade. As PSA's Joe Orlando has said many times, there are high-end 8s and low-end 8s, etc. Characteristics such as print spots, picture registry, centering, and so forth were all taken into consideration when the grade was decided. IT'S NOW UP TO YOU TO DECIDE IF YOU WANT IT, IF IT MEETS YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND ULTIMATELY, IF YOU'D BE REALLY HAPPY WITH IT. IF YOU CANNOT MAKE THAT KIND OF DECISION BY YOURSELF NOW, GET OUT OF THE HOBBY. NOT TRYING TO BE A SMART BUTTHEAD, BUT YOU'LL SIMPLY HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION. IF YOU TEND TO SECOND GUESS YOURSELF ALL THE TIME, YOU WON'T BE HAPPY WITH YOUR HOBBY.
Again, there's always going to be controversy and accusations. But I for one do not want to go back to taking someone's word for a card's grade. True, a graded card carries someone's word for it, but they're professionals, objective, and well-experienced. If certain deep-pocketed submitters are getting a very unfair advantage, then the hobby may indeed be eventually doomed.
As for the Wagner, PSA should simply admit that they did not know it was hand-cut, and leave the grade as is. Bill Mastro simply completed the job that the cutters/printers did not do. Yes, he should have come out and said this initially, but we are not talking about a '62 Topps Jerry Lumpe, are we? An exception could and should be made for THE WAGNER, because it is THE WAGNER. Nothing is remotely close to it condition-wise. For all intents and purposes, it is pristine. True, one could say Bill Mastro had an unfair advantage, but he spent 25K to assume the risk that he could hand-cut that king-sized ruby from the strip it was printed on. One slip of the blade, and he's out his 25K. He cut it with perfect precision. PSA should just make an exception for this one card, because it's our hobby's masterpiece, and let's get on with collecting.
So far the hobby would not buy such a notion. The brunt of it seems many just want to get on the bandwagon to get at Mastro. However, the hand-cutting of the Wagner was simply just the icing on the cake. A cake of genuine misdeeds, it appears.
My 5 cents. ----Brian Powell