Posted By:
David BBob, I understand your point about buying the card, not the holder, but I would have to disagree somewhat. The price you end up paying for a slabbed card is based on the grade stamped on the holder. You might be lucky enough to find an undergraded card and get a good deal - where a good eye comes into play. But, say you buy a fairly graded card in Ex condition, you're going to pay a premium above the value of the "raw" card. So if the card is worth $100 in raw Ex condition and $200 in graded Ex condition, you're paying $100 for the card and another $100 for the holder (or for some guy to give his opinion that the card is really in Ex condition). Ultimately, though, you have to trust your eye to see if a card is graded correctly, which, of course defeats the whole purpose of grading as the final authority on the condition of a card (as is pointed out in the VCBC article).
Anyway, I'll shut up now. I can see from the lack of other responses that this grading question has been beaten to death ad nauseum.