VCBC #7, 1996, PSA & ASA Card Grading Svc's - Smoke Detectors Without Batteries

[hcv123]

Reality 1 - 3rd party grading is inconsistent at best (grossly incompetent at worst) - I have seen cards that imnsho were over graded, under graded and grossly mis-graded. For those well versed this is obvious and easy enough to see. (As has been raised above - there are many not so well versed)

Reality 2 - There are altered cards in 3rd party grading holders (we will likely never know which ones as anyone who owns one either is unaware or if aware, unwilling to take the financial hit of being honest). The grading companies ARE PART of the problem - when the very first card that PSA graded - the famed Gretzky-McNall Wagner is publicly known to have been altered (trimmed) and still sits in a PSA 8 holder - violating the very standard PSA claims to follow in grading - the actions (or lack thereof) speak way louder than words. While this is probably the most visible case, it is far from isolated and not a problem exclusive to any 1 grading company.

Reality 3 - The addition of 3rd party grading into the marketplace has vastly increased both the number of people "comfortable" buying cards as well as the prices for those cards. There is a whole market for people who - "buy the holder, not the card". They are certainly entitled to do so, but do so incurring the risks mentioned earlier in this thread.

My opinion - - While a VERY imperfect system for the reasons mentioned above and more, the net effect of 3rd party grading has been a benefit to hobby health as a whole. As in so many other markets - the more educated consumer is always in a position to make a more educated purchase decision. How educated one chooses to get is a personal decision.