If you were to start a NEW grading service...

[Al C.risafulli]

1. I'd hire great graders and pay them well.

2. I'd take image quality into consideration the way PSA considers print defects. A weak OJ image would be treated the same as a roller line print snow, and would reduce the technical grade. My company would not have qualifiers (except the one noted below), so the faded image would reduce a card's numeric grade, and a high quality image that enhanced the card's eye appeal could increase a card's grade by a half point.

3. The only qualifier I'd allow would be BD - for back damage on otherwise blank-backed cards. Its a shame to see an Old Judge that looks like a 7 get dinged down to a 2 because it has paper loss on the back, when there's nothing on the back anyway.

4. I would consider a second qualifier for postal use on postcards, for a similar reason - a postcard that's gone through the mail and looks like a 7 gets knocked down to a 1 because Christy Mathewson's sister wrote on it and mailed it home to mom seems like an awful reason to reduce a card's grade.

5. Every issue that has back or pose variations would be recognized in my population reports from Day 1. Every T207 back, every T205 back, every Old Judge pose, every Topps paper stock color.

6. I would offer grading credits for people returning my flips, in an effort to keep my pop reports as accurate as possible. It wouldn't be as rich as one free grade per returned flip, but maybe I'd offer one for every 10 or something.

7. My holders would be secure, acid-free, thin, attractive.

8. Any submission with 25% or more of the cards rejected for alteration would be rejected in its entirety, and repeat offenders would be banned from submitting.

9. I would market extensively to both the vintage hobby and the modern, both to existing customers and new.

10. In addition to grading specials I'd have incentives for frequent submitters.

-Al