The Goodwin Plank and Magie are TRIMMED!

[Kenny Cole]

Originally Posted by Moonlight Graham

dan' i'm not really sure why you call 3rd party grading a joke. every card i own is professionally graded. i try to buy the best condition of dead ball era stars that i can afford and i worry about counterfeits. i'm not educated enough to tell the difference myself. i know there are a lot of inconsistencies in the actual grades but do you think they actually slab fakes? i'm not trying to be a wise guy but i would like to hear your point of view on this-maybe i can get a different insight because i am brainwashed to have all cards graded-thanks and i look forward to your response!

Well, the obvious answer -- one which really doesn't depend upon whether you agree with third-party grading or not -- is to educate yourself so that you can make your own determinations. Are fakes slabbed? Yes, but hopefully not often. Do they miss altered cards? Yes, sometimes that happens too. Do they misgrade cards? According to lots of sellers on ebay, that appears to happen frequently, although very few cards seem to be overgraded

I'm not a huge fan of third-party grading, although I've certainly had many cards graded. Obviously, it has some utility in terms of allowing a person who can't see the card in person to form an opinion about the card's characteristics. However, relying upon the opinion of someone else should be in addition to, not in lieu of, obtaining knowledge about the card in question. Slavish reliance upon any third-party grader to tell you what you may be buying is very much a mistake IMO.