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

[BicycleSpokes]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

When I'm buying a card I want to know two things:



1. Is it authentic?

2. Has it been altered?



I can personally assign my own "grade" and determine the price I want to pay for the card.



I would support a company that used a simple concept like this...

I really like this approach. I am surprised existing TPG companies do not offer this as an option.


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[drcy]

I like D.P.Johnson's post

From a practical standpoint, you're not going to compete in the number/registry game, but doing a good job authenticating and identifying alterations would be a good service.

One problem is it would be harder for a collector himself to grade a card in a holder. Letter scans of the card though would mean the card wouldn't have to be entombed in a holder.

For the record, I'm all for collectors collecting low grade raw cards. They seem to be the closest to real collectors, as opposed to number investors and grade re-submitters. If a collector says "I don't care about number, and just want to be sure it's authentic and unaltered," he's my type of guy.

I've had some cards in such low condition that even if it turned out they were altered it wouldn't lower the value. I referred to a particularly rough small collection of Goudeys I once had as "the Devil's coasters."

I also agree with the earlier thread that there are variations in condition within the PSA/SGC Poor grade.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by drcy

I like D.P.Johnson's post

+1 - sorry for duplicating most of his concept. I just copied my post directly over to this thread without actually reading any of the posts here.

[drcy]

Just for the record, starting a trading card grading company would be about the last thing I'd want to do.

[Fred]

No numerical grades.

It's either AUTHENTIC (which means unaltered) or it has been ALTERED.

List ALL detected alterations (added color, bleached, trimmed, rebacked, etc).

List all defects that are not obvious. There's really no reason to list a MAJOR crease if it's very obvious. If it has a difficult to detect crease then note CR (like a qualifier of sorts).


Make a very secure tamper proof package.

Take hi resolution scans/pictures of the card (front and back) and make that information available in a database so people can research it and verify the card in the holder is in fact the card that was graded.

This service will probably be a little more expensive than the existing fee structures provided by the majors because of the extra work/detail involved.

WOULD NOT GRADE ANYTHING AFTER 1979. I might even make that 1960 and cater to a vintage crowd.

I'm sure there's more but those are the basic concepts of a service I'd like to see.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by drcy

Just for the record, starting a trading card grading company would be about the last thing I'd want to do.

+1 - absolutely agree.... what a headache.... If I did do something that crazy, I'd change my name to Joe....

[packs]

I'd institute a blind submission policy. You put your name on the submission form and your card gets a number for reference. A third party grader reviews the card not knowing who owns it. Assigns a grade.

The worst aspect of the grading / authentication business is that it favors certain individuals / companies. So I'd like to eliminate that aspect by having graders who know nothing about where the cards came from.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by packs

I'd institute a blind submission policy. You put your name on the submission form and your card gets a number for reference. A third party grader reviews the card not knowing who owns it. Assigns a grade.

The worst aspect of the grading / authentication business is that it favors certain individuals / companies. So I'd like to eliminate that aspect by having graders who know nothing about where the cards came from.

great idea!