The Cardboard Collecting Psyche

[White Borders]

Greetings,

I think Wazoo's posts in this thread: Opinions on my T206 Raymond American Beauty provide a unique look into the collecting psyche ... not just his but that of many of us that collect old cardboard lithographs with advertisements on the back. So I've pulled his quotes out of this thread and then offered an analysis at the end. Please understand there's nothing wrong with what Wazoo or anyone else is doing since there is no "right" way of collecting. As long as you are happy is mainly what counts.

Originally Posted by wazoo

Recently, I had my t206 Bugs Raymond card graded by SGC. It has an American Beauty 350 back and from the looks of it, it is in great condition. The corners are so sharp on the card, you'd think it would earn itself at least a 5. [Note: It got a 3.] Do you think it deserves a higher grade? Opinions are greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by wazoo

Thank you very much for the feedback. Who knows, maybe I'll have it submitted to PSA, and it will come back as a 5 or something. When I see 4's going for $300 dollars, I want all I can do to increase the grade.

Originally Posted by wazoo

Oh I know that! I want to transfer over all my PSA cards into SGC holders, the appeal is just amazing! Especially with red backgrounds like the Mcgraw. I'm just worried about the new half grades over at SGC, meaning I will probably have to send in cards a second time, just to get a card increased to a whole grade. I will take a look! Thank you for letting me know!

Originally Posted by wazoo

So true! I love SGC.

ANALYSIS

Cards are submitted to a third party grader (TPG) with the expectation that they'll pop at a certain grade level. Supposedly the third party grader is the expert and we, the collectors, are not. Otherwise, wouldn't we be doing our own grading? When a card is received from a TPG with a grade lower than what was expected, we then seek support from our fellow collectors asking why doesn't it deserve a higher grade?

Perhaps we should decide what grade it deserves, get peer approval, and go with that. No need to bother with TPGs!

Some may decide to cross all of their PSA cards to SGC because they think they look better in SGC slabs. But there are also conflicting thoughts to either resubmit SGC cards that are thought to be undergraded or crossover these undergraded SGC cards to PSA. So, may aesthetics (which holder the card looks best in) is only part to the decision for getting the card graded. The rest of the decision is which TPG will give the highest grade.

Though I primarily collect raw cards, I do have some that are graded, and I understand some of the rationale for getting raw cards graded, including a bit better protection (from spills, tears, babies, pets, etc), to lessen the chance of getting a reprint or altered card, to play the registry games, to place in a nice wall mounted display case, or to maximize resale value.

So, if you're just wanting an SGC graded card because it displays well, and you plan to keep it in your collection for a while and you're not going add it to the registry, just leave it in the SGC slab with whatever grade it has, whether it's a 3, 4, or 5. Once you decide to sell a card, you can then consider resubmitting or crossing it over to PSA if you believe it is undergraded and will receive a higher grade; thus resulting in higher resale value.

Again, I'm not targeting Wazoo. I just found his posts in his thread were somewhat aligned with what I've been seeing and thinking about and wished to express.

Best Regards and Happy Collecting
Craig

All are welcome to comment with additions, validations or rebuttals.

[glchen]

Sometimes, I really don't think people understand the point of TPG's. It's not that TPG's always get grading correctly (although they are supposed to). It is that they are unbiased. That way when someone is buying a card graded by a TPG, they know that they are getting a card that was graded by someone who does not have financial interest in the card being sold. When raw cards are sold, on the other hand, no seller goes to net54 and then states on their listing that all of their cards were grade per peer review. Nope, besides the seller themselves, the card is only peer reviewed by one other person, and that is the seller's accountant.