What would happen if PSA went out of business?

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Like grading a t206 Wagner KNOWING it was trimmed?



LOL, this hobby thrived just fine w/o TPG grading and if every TPG went out of business tomorrow, the hobby would still be just as alive.

I had to read this a few times to make sure I was reading what I thought I was reading.

I guess this makes two of us that are laughing because I can't fathom that one could think the hobby would be just as alive if third party grading went away. So much demand is built around the pursuit of value. Why do unopened boxes sell for what they do? Sure a peace of the value comes from nostalgia but the vast majority comes from the fact that there might be hidden treasures inside that can grade high.

PSA grades in the neighborhood of 1.6 million cards a year. A large percentage of those are for resale and if there wasn't grading prices wouldn't be anywhere near what they are and many of these cards wouldn't be bought in the first place.

No one needs a mint or gem mint card but because of grading and the value proposition that can follow it has breathed life back into the hobby. Not a day goes by that I don't read about record prices for HOF cards and guess what they are all graded. If grading goes away these prices aren't even remotely sustainable and as prices collapse so will interest.

It isn't just the registry stuff that would decline. There are plenty of cards that sell for many multiples from NM to NM-MT to Mint to Gem Mint. Sure there would be variance but you wouldn't see cards sell for 100 times more then another copy.