The Opportunity

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Mark17

In theory, yes, but if the graders working at tables, grading card after card and just waiting for the weekend, miss an alteration, how much do they really care? The company cares, but does the guy who made the mistake have any vested interest? A dealer protecting his hard-earned good reputation sure does.

All good comments! Not saying I have the answer, just saying I trust some people more than others when it comes to assessing baseball cards.

In Stamps, the people doing the authentication/grading are experts, and are often dealers. They generally specialize in a particular area.
There is also some private expertization by respected dealers, although the most recent one in the US died a few years ago. He offered a really bare bones service, $5 for any stamp, and the certificate was a small printed piece of paper with the minimum required info.

In other countries the expertizers are experts in a narrow area, and may be dealers. They don't really do grading. The culture varies from one country to the next. At least once, the person considered to be THE expert on a single issue has turned out to also be the person forging the overprints. So all type II or ones of a particular color are now known to be fake, and he approved all of them - Of course he made them, so...

Overall, I think that having a service that's actually reliable, and that takes the time and is transparent about the information - No simple "A", but an "A" with a detailed explanation. is the way to go. I've debated giving it a try, but I'm very slow and hopelessly disorganized. I figure it would take a good deal of money and at least 3-4 people to even get started. And the chance of success compared to PSA where the registry is well developed and active is very small.
I'd have a registry that accepted cards from other graders, with varying weights. That's pretty much the only way I can see to make any headway in the registry area.