Posted By:
D. C. Markel"'But the thrust of your point, at least as regards PSA (assuming what I read is correct that they have inexperienced graders, perhaps working without adequate equipment) is correct"
Can anyone find that article written by Orlando not so long ago where he states the common misconceptions about grading (no lights, loupe, etc.)'"
I have the article. It's on page 14 of the June 2007 SMR. I have seen this article misquoted several times on various message boards. In short, the article states that graders don't measure EVERY card and don't look at EVERY card under magnification. It clearly states that they use those tools, but not on EVERY card. Do you need to "loup" a modern card with a crease or dinged corner or measure a card that appears to have wide borders for that issue? Of course not.
The article also debunks the myth that evidence of trimming is detected by a simple measurement with a ruler.
Again, people read a lot more into this article than what was written and concluded that PSA graders don't use loups nor measurement devices, which is false.