One of these days.....Old Judges graded differently

[drcy]

Grading has it's limits, subjectivity and is inexact. One limit is it is a grader of physical condition, but not an arbiter of aesthetic appeal. I agree the graders often seem to sometime ignore whether the Old Judge images are developed detailed or undeveloped, which clearly is an essential aspect (and some would say part of the physical condition) of the cards. Old Judges are little photographs, and image quality, focus, development and overall aesthetics is an inherent aspect of photographs. Whether or not those things fall under the category of physical condition to be graded is a matter of opinion. Personally, I think how well developed is the image (too light, too dark, etc) is part of physical condition, but don't think focus or aesthetic quality is. Some artistic and sports images, including images of movement, are intentionally out of focus. If a photographic image has faded due to light exposure, I would certainly count that as a physical defect.

[Jacker_ Cracks]

Originally Posted by drcy

Grading has it's limits and is inexact. One limit is it isn't an arbiter of aesthetic appeal. Also, a cookie cutter grading system will never fit every type of card.

+1 Completely agree with you.

[mrvster]

and ojs(im also a closet oj fan)

photo quality should be a category and weighted heavier on ojs.....

[drcy]

I can add that, when I'm describing photos, I describe the physical condition plus describe the image quality. Two parts to the description. I can describe a photo as "Near Mint grade but the image is out of focus" or "Physically grades Very Good due to edge damage and paper loss, but the image is mint crystal clear." For better or worse, that's how I do it. I don't see how giving an single average of the two grades (physical condition + aesthetic quality of image divided by two) would do anyone any good.

For cabinet cards, press photos and the like, I'll post pictures, describe the physical defects (corner wear, paper loss wrinkles, etc) and the quality of the image (focus, clarity, etc) and not give a number grade. The collector can weight the different aspects and calculate a personal number grade whichever he wants.

[Exhibitman]