Grading

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

In 1984 Beckett offered the following grades for baseball card assessment: Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good anf Fair.

More recent grades offered include: Pristine, Gem Mint, Mint, Near Mint-Mint, Excellent-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Some add vg/ex and fine.

As card prices rise, the justification for increased grade breakdowns becomes more apparent. The potential for today's GAI 9 being tomorrows GAI 8.8 (or 9.2) exists.

If the course cited above continues, some think that it is better to implement all grading changes now rather than continue to build a population of cards which will eventually need to be reslabbed.

Do you think that fractional grades are a definate eventuality?

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Posted By: jamie

beckett's 1984 grading system was based purely on 'raw' cards. you cant make the comparison at all.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

The inconsistent "human" subjective nature of people grading cards will render any grading scale useless regardless of whether or not the grading companies go to a fractional grading scale or even if they all come together to create an industry standard.

It's like they say, if you build something idiot proof they will build a better idiot. In grading terms if you make a standardized grading scale they'll find a way to deviate.

I'm not against grading, I just don't agree with a lot of the grades I've seen on encapsulated cards. If a card is encapsulated at least it is protected (unless you get a grading company that does a sloppy job of sealing the cards in place, but that never happens).

The truly sad part about grading is that a lot of people will base their valuation of a card on the grade shown on the grading label. I've seen enough leniently graded cards to know that depending upon someone elses opinion is kind of foolish, especially in the case of high ticket items. I'd rather see a card in person or I'd rather see high resolution scans to make my own determination - time for me to shut up.

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Posted By: the Monus Lisa

Unfortunately, it has become almost mandatory to have a top notch vintage card graded because of the fraudulent material out there. The authentication alone by a respected company is a major plus for the card-and after that, I feel you must take a closer look at the card and make your own appraisal because of the 1-3 point swing in grades. So, my own grading system is: 1-mangled 2- creased 3-nice looking 4-way sharp 5-like new.

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

because it goes up to 11.

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Posted By: tML

Here is my grading system Hal:
1-challenged
2-creased but looks like a 4
3-eye candy
4-near to perfection
5-monus lisa
------------------------------------
-1-GrandpaGift
-2-Estate Sale
-3-Found in Old Toy
-4-Attic Find
-5-Getting Married Cards Gotta Go

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Posted By: warshawlaw

0: a total piece of crap but real
1: crappy
2: pretty crappy
3: just a little crappy
4: not crappy at all
5: show me the love
6: Uecker(just a little outside)
7: old-timers' mint
8: about as nice as you can afford, monkeyboy!
9: really, can you tell the difference between this and an 8? I can't but I have to justify my $h**y job.
10: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and other silliness