[BobC]

Originally Posted by Mark17

When I buy GU flannels, they sometimes come with a LOA from a TPG like SGC or MEARS or Bill Henderson. But sometimes they just come with a letter from the AH. For example, I recently got several jerseys from Hunt and they came with their letter. I trust Hunt, so that's good enough for me.

I think the same could be done with cards. Reputable auction houses, of which there are at least a dozen well-known ones, could slab the cards they sell with their own guarantee of authenticity. They might not want to absolutely guarantee no alterations, as they can be very difficult to identify sometimes, and they may or may not want to assign grades. But they could at least assure the buyer they are genuine.

If I'm buying a card that Hunt, or LOTG, or REA, or Lelands, etc., etc. says is real, I would have the comfort level required to bid strongly. Same goes with Greg Morris, Chandy Greenholt, and many other dealers.

So, just as an AH will give me their letter on a GU jersey, I'd love to see them do their own card slabbing on higher end cardboard.

Problem is that cards are so much more dependent on condition in determing value, and almost everything is sold online anymore so you can't always get the sense of what a card's condition and worth is from a scan. If not for the internet and Ebay, not so sure grading would be as important as it is today.