GAI has a "whoops"

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Posted By: David

A problem with grading companies is that they grade way too many items.

From what I understand, the counterfeits looked distinctly different than the genuine. If this is the case, this would mean that GAI examined a card without either knowing what a genuine one looked like or without having a sample card in thier files.

Old trading cards and related can be authenticated without having samples (in some cases samples are not obtained as an item is unique). This authentication happens when the card was produced with antiquated printing that can be easily identied by someone who knows what he/she's doing.

For modern cards, ala Bazooka, it's much more difficult and, barring obvious problems (i.e. printed from a computer printer), having samples or, at the least, a good experience with the issue, is essential.

I've long thought that the graders, even the good ones, will encounter inevitable problems because they try to grade as many cards as is possible. I'm not naive enough to think that they will ever choose to slow down.