The Value of the 8.5 Grade--One of My Largest Trades Ever

[benjulmag]

Originally Posted by WhenItWasAHobby

Exactly. There would be a zero upside and a horrendous downside incentive-wise for any grading company to proactively buy back doctored cards and acknowledge they messed up - especially in times like this when a company president recently writes an article acknowledging we are in a "market slowdown" but assures his readers we are not in a "market paralysis".

It's hard to imagine PSA could afford to buy back all doctored cards in its holders. That combined with their lack of incentive to do so even it was affordable leads me to believe that most of those cards will remain in PSA holders, but in time will require a cross-over certification to retain their value. Yes, I understand that there are a number of registry owners who care only what's on the slab (as opposed to what's in the slab). And for a time they will continue to largely prop up the high-grade slabbed market. But what about the next generation of collectors, collectors who at present have little invested in such slabbed cards and who have little economic incentive to keep their heads in the sand about the risk that a substantial number of these cards are doctored.

There have been a number of threads on this board over the years about the numbers of slabbed high-grade prewar cards that are doctored. My opinion, at least for certain issues (e.g., T206s) is that a substantial percentage, quite possibly the majority, of 8s and higher have been doctored in some way. My collecting days go back to the 1960s and never in those times do a recall such a quantity of nrmt/mt and mt cards, and such a dearth of oversized cards. If I am anything close to correct about this, then I simply don't see how that day of reckoning can be put off forever. Think about it. All it would take is for one collector with a significant number of such high grade slabbed prewar cards to be willing (or feel the need) to have them examined by an IMPARTIAL third party authenticator. And if that was done and a significant number come back doctored, in effect the market value for slabbed cards of those issues that either lack provenance or "impartial third party" re certification will be decimated.