This is the problem with grading...

[SMPEP]

Guess I still don't get it.

You want to spend $3k on a 1952 Mantle. Okay. The population of the card is pretty well known. There aren't too many floating around that are ungraded (and you're not buying those any ways because of authenticity questions). So you know this is pretty much the market rate barring something very unusual happening.

But a PSA 10 1973 Art Shell? Heck I have a NM set. Never bothered to grade a single card. Are mine 8s, 9s, 10s? I have no clue but given how many were printed, how many are sitting ungraded in boxes like mine, and how few have ever been graded, it's a very safe assumption there are many more 10s out there.

So why would you spend that much money on a card that could lose half (or more?) of its value if just 3 more 10s turn up out of the tens of thousands that were printed?

Guess I should go see if my Shell is a 10. Even if it's not, I can submitted with a picture of this 10 and make them justify giving me a lower grade.

And I'll happily sell it for $2,500 if the underbidder wants a "bargain."

Cheers,
Patrick