Can corruption kill this beloved hobby?

[steve B]

I don't think it will wreck everything.

For one, it's always been there. The methods and money have changed, but the same stuff goes on. Cards were cleaned and trimmed before TPG came along, and that was one of the big selling points of TPG.

Cards were commonly overgraded as well. Especially when there was a lot of mailorder without scans or TPG. How many times did we hear "it's excellent for its age" back in the old days? Or see some dealers who would call a card with rounded corners and a big crease VG? Or one with a bent corner NM?

Ohter hobbies have similar problems.

With stamps there was an expertizing company that got caught passing the stuff sent in by certain dealers with little or no actual examination. And outright fakes, and alterations have been done since nearly the very beginning. (As well as wealthy speculators convincing countries with the most rudimentary postal services to issue large series that the specualtor would sell for them. Or ordering legitimately some really odd combinations of stamped envelopes. )

Old racing bikes are almost always subject to crazy claims of being ridden by certain riders, when they're the wrong size, or the entirely wrong maker. Even a simple "team bike" attributed to no rider in particular is occasionally faked.

Cars have been discovered that have very dubious calims to being original OR even what they are claimed to be. I once had an opportunity to buy a Hemi Charger. The price was very low. When I checked into it, what I found was that I'd recieve the VIN and data plates in an envelope. For a bit extra I'd get the frame parts that stiffened the car body to take the extra horsepower. The rest was up to me. (Buy a Charger and weld in the frame bits then find the rest of the parts)

All three of those hobbies are doing just fine. The exertizing companies got it together, the information is available to ID a fake bike, and the info about spotting cars that are just "wrong" is also out there.

Do fakes and alterations still happen? Yes. Are stamps, Bikes and cars still misrepresented? Yes. (It's the same for pretty much any hobby) Have those hobbies been ruined? Nope.

Steve B

[drcy]

If we're really serious about cleaning up this problem, we should bring back flogging.

[the-illini]

I get that scanner settings, etc can make a card look different that its actual appearance. That said, if I am selling something and my scan hides a flaw and I notice it, I re-scan the card.

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by the-illini

I get that scanner settings, etc can make a card look different that its actual appearance. That said, if I am selling something and my scan hides a flaw and I notice it, I re-scan the card.

Yup...

[drcy]

Of historical note, Isaac Newton was Warden of the British Royal Mint and in charge of hunting down counterfeiters.

I don't know what were his views of flogging.