Posted By:
Fred CDan,
Something you seem to forget is that grading is SUBJECTIVE. In this case the intent of the grader was also subjective. In his eyes the card may have been trimmed but "The card is so outstanding, it would have been sacreligious to call that card trimmed and completely devalue it.” That is stretching subjectivity but we must keep in mind that it's up to the grader to tell us what the card is worth. Hell, we're just too stupid as collectors to determine value and condition. Notice that VALUE goes before CONDITION because that's the direction the hobby took after the grading started. Who cares about the card, look at the NUMBER on the label, the almighty number is what drives some collectors. Who cares about alterations and true condition. It's all about that stupid number on the label. If the grader wants to assign a high number to a card, then so be it. In some cases it matters not that the card is altered, it matters that some a-hole is dictating that the cards will be assigned a numerical value > (greater than) a certain number. Look at the Harris Collection. Look at the Gretzky Wagner.
I feel sorry for Gretzky because his good name will forever be associated with this card. If I were Gretzky I'd demand that the Gretzky name was removed from that STUPID label.