What happened to the guy sanding low pop cards?

[cobblove]

What ever happened to that guy? I think he was from Houston and I know he got kicked off ebay. I know he was good at taking Ex-Mt cards and sanding them into 8s. What are yalls thoughts about the new .5 scale from PSA? He could easily now buy PSA 8s and just touch them even less to get an 8.5? Or something that might not even be an issue? What happend to him? Anything?

[drc]

I would guess the cards were cut not sanded. I wouldn’t want to try sanding a card.

I don’t have anything against a .5 grade scale in general, but think little of PSA’s version which seems to be a crude concoction of the marketing and accounting departments. For examples, there is no 9.5 (presumably to protect the market sanctity of 10s), and if you resubmit a holdered card they can raise the grade .5 but they promise not to lower it. A collector can argue whether or not those are good things, but they ain't about objective accuracy in grading. The latter example sounds a bit like Harvard grade inflation.

I understand and appreciate wanting a numeral and name system that matches collectors' sensibilities (5-77 skip by 3 scale wouldn't be a swell idea for anyone). However, beyond these pleasantries, grading should be about one thing: grading. If it's about something else, you've got it wrong.

[timn1]

What's the story behind the Joan of Arc avatar?

Cheers,
Tim

[drc]

You earn the cookie, Tim. I don't have a Joan of Arc complex, but am a fan of her and Maria Falconetti (above).