Quote:
Originally Posted by JackW
Is it unrealistic to think that not every T206 found its way into a pack?
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Some may not have. But to me that changes little. Here's the main point as I see it.
For a card to survive in true 8 or higher condition, at ALL times in its existence the handler must be CONSCIOUS of the need to do nothing that could cause anything greater than a microscopic deterioration in condition. So the question is -- Who on earth in that era when cards literally had no financial value would be conscious of such a thing? A collector you might say? Okay, let's look at the most well-known one -- Jefferson Burdick. If you look through his various albums, I would say the average card on a good day is a vg. I'm not sure a single card would grade (even close to) an 8. And this guy appreciated collecting as much as anyone. BTW, vg-ex to ex cards neatly displayed in a book without much toning look beautiful!
When I was a kid and obsessed with collecting, I was particularly conscious of condition. So if my card was an excellent, I would regard it as satisfactory from every perspective. Even in the 80's when people started to become excessively anal about condition, an 8 in those days would probably be a 6 today. In 1984 I bought an entire T206 set (minus the big 4 (though then it was the big 3)). It was sold as a nrmt-mt set. Sure, I understood the puffery associated with grading and did not expect the average grade to be that. After I bought it I described in as an ex-mt+ to nr-mt set. Some years later I traded it, and some years after that I saw the set in an auction, each card having been graded and an individual lot. As I recall, the great majority of cards were in the 4 to 5 range, and I don't believe a single card graded higher than a 6.
So to me at least, taking all these things into account and applying simple common sense, I believe that what we are witnessing in regard to the population of ultra high-graded vintage registry cards is one of the greatest hoaxes collecting has ever seen.