Posted By:
BryanI will be the first one to admit that I LIKE graded cards. I know, I know the hate mails can start now. But let me say that I also collect cards because I love them and not for investment even though I have asked the dreaded "investment" question in past threads. Most of the cards that I own are graded, and most of them are graded a 1. I buy graded cards for a couple of reasons.
1. They look better - to me anyways. especially SGC graded cards.
2. I have no choice but to put my trust into a few selected grading companies. We all know that the internet has forever changed the way this hobby will be. It is almost impossible, for me, to tell certain things about a card just by looking at a picture of it on my computer screen. I need to feel the card, smell the card, and just plain have that first reaction to something when you see it in person. But, that is impossible for me because the internet is the only option that I have for finding the cards that I want because you just can't go down the street in the small town that I live and pick a couple t204 HOFers or anything like it. Grading companies are always going to have their troubles and everyone is not going to be happy all the time. I do not have the expertise of many of the collectors of this board do but I feel that I fall into the "normal" collector level on the scale.
I was speaking to collector friend of mine not to long along and he mentioned that he has a collector from North Dakota that will fly down to him from time to time just to sell him high dollar cards that he picks up. He rarely buys cards off the internet - he doesn't have to! His cards are brought to him and he has the money to pay for them. I don't.
I realize that I may have dropped off the subject a tad, but I think that beginners and "old timers" rely in some ways what a third party grader has to say whether or not they want to make a profit.
Just my 2 cents.