Card Grading Is Upside Down

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I know there is a difference in visual appeal and financial value between a Fair and Near Mint card, but professional grading, and their numbers, is often used as a method to create artificial rarity. This is especially true with plentiful issues where only a make believe rarity can exist. "There may be 10,000 of these cards but only 8 exist in a '9.'" So, yes, there are people who collect numbers and who would find important difference between a 92 and a 93.

My guess is that more than half of the people who buy professionally graded Mint cards don't buy them so much buy them because they're Mint, but because they perceive Mint as "rare." For these people, whether they can see the difference between a 9 and a 10 is besides the point.

I'm sure there are perfectionist collectors who, irrelevant to book value and population reports, genuinely want the perfect conditioned card or poster or mechanical bank as perfection condition is music to their eyes and hearts. However, I suspect that a minor edge touch does not make a significant aesthetic difference to most high grade card collectors, but these collectors perceive 9s and 10s as 'rare' and know they sell for more.