What is it, exactly, about grading?

[Archive]

Posted By: Frank Wakefield

What I dislike about grading...

Collectors devolve to ignorance, collecting "PSA 6 or better" T206s, clueless about what the cards really are. In slab form, they're like a commodity, e.g. pork bellies. Slabbing has resulted in a "dumbing down" of the hobby.

I detest paying someone who knows less than I know about cards, for his opinion. I'm not getting a title opinion on a home, or a second opinion about a pending surgery. As a collector I should learn my hobby.

The slabs are bulky. Ugly. A pain to store.

The slabs are occassionally incorrectly labeled. And it seems that often when that happens, most folks (most board folks excluded) are clueless about the mistake.

I like to be able to touch a card. To hold it.

Folks have become slaves of "7" or "9". I like the idea that my E90-1s are generally more worn than my N172s or T205s, 6s, 7s, 9s, 10s, my one 11, 12s, 13s, my one 14... all because the T cards went into the hands of adults, and then might have filtered (sorry if that pun offends) down to kids. While the E cards went straight to the kids, and were packed around in pockets, were pinned to a wall, and all sorts of stuff. The wear is evidence of the appreciation of the cards of past young owners of generations past. I kinda think about collector-used cards the way I think about a game used bat. I have some new bats. And a few game used bats.

It is a rediculous cost. I can get more cards, autographs, old books, and the like, if I'm not paying for someone else's opinion. I'm content with my opinion.

I usually find that slabbing isn't necessary for my sense of wellbeing when I buy cards on eBay. I can usually tell about the genuineness of a card if the scans are good. I just try to buy from sellers with good feedback, sellers who accept returns. Once I needed a black light to discern that a Remar Bread card was fake, but it was a good fake. The seller refunded the money, and let me keep the card. I use it to "hold school" with young collectors who are trying to learn, young collectors who are learning their craft instead of relying on a "plastic 7" or a "plastic 8"!

I like to be able to look at a bunch of T206s and point out the American Beauty cards, discernable because they are slightly more slender than the regular cards. Most slab-heads can only distinguish them by reading a slab label or looking at the back.

Slab guys add and divide to find an average grade number for their collection... they aren't collecting baseball cards, they're collecting slabs!

I will conceed one good aspect of slabbing. The price realized for a slabbed card is generally higher when sold on eBay, and that is good when I'm a seller. Years ago I got about half a dozen Obaks. Then the last few years I've picked up a few more. One night I bid on a Ping Bodie PSA 1, and won it for about $16, as I recall. When I got it, I looked and saw that I already had one, from that old original purchase. My old Bodie was in much better shape. Maybe a 3 or a 4 (whooooo!!!). So I listed the PSA 1 on eBay, with a bit of a bio about who Bodie was, and the card sold for twice what I had in it. I'll attribute part of that to listing who the guy was, but most of it was because of the PSA plastic. Maybe I should start a separate thread, have you ever inadvertantly bought a card you already had??? There would likely be a dicotomy of those of us who admit it, and those who won't.

With slabbing comes the population reports. The reports are misleading. If a card gets a 9, most folks leave it alone. If a card gets a 4 and maybe should have been a 5 or 6, then it is broken out and resubmitted. So the population will have more lower numbers due to regrading. Additionally, most slabbed cards I buy are liberated. They are still in the "population" acording to PSA and others, but the card isn't in a slab any more.

Slabbing is like the 20th century version of eCards. You can't touch them... you can brag about them to others, and if they're fellow slab-heads they'll listen. But I won't.

I could go on for a while...