"Grading Scandal" in a nutshell, please

[jchcollins]

At a very high level:

* The scandal has proven some of our worst fears about TPG's true - that in many cases they were not up to the task of knowing what they should know about how to detect altered cards, that in many cases they were at least susceptible to improper influence from their largest customers, and that in many cases the "professional" in professional grading was just a marketing term.

At it's best, professional grading at first helped to consolidate standards and make it easier to buy a card in a certain "range" sight unseen with a greater chance that the card you received in the mail would be somewhat what you expected that you had ordered. But at a foundation level, even when done correctly, the model for professional grading which exists today reaches a point of inconsistency due to the subjectivity inherent in the process which has not been able to be overcome. At some point, the precision of professional grading is fraud, because it's been proven anew what many knew all along: There is no magic. It's just an opinion. It's just one opinion. And the standard for that opinion may be different today than it was yesterday on the same card, or even one like it that comes into their queue a mere 5 minutes later.

The collector's own opinion and evaluation of the authenticity and condition of the piece in question is in the end what really matters, and what we have to get back to with additional eduction.