Alteration vs. Conservation Defined

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by perezfan

The entire PWCC thing is a train wreck, but...

I'm really surprised at the level of forgiveness here, and "turning a blind eye" towards PSA for their role in this nightmare. These are ridiculous and obvious mistakes that they are continually making. Hard to believe these are all just unfortunate oversights.

Yet only a tiny percent of the conversation is directed towards them. I suppose it's because most people here own a slew of PSA graded cards, and want to maintain the integrity and value of their investments.

But I have seen countless discrepancies in their numerical grading, and wish the entire system could be revamped to a system like Corey S. suggested. It will obviously never happen now that we're so far down this road. But suffice to say many/most of the people on this board could do an equal or better job than these "professional graders".

And even with that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess a majority of people need someone else to legitimize the worth of their collection.

Agreed! And today the stock hits a yearly high!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

Agreed! And today the stock hits a yearly high!

Think Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.

You want us slabbing cards.
You NEED us slabbing cards.

[irv]

Originally Posted by perezfan

The entire PWCC thing is a train wreck, but...

I'm really surprised at the level of forgiveness here, and "turning a blind eye" towards PSA for their role in this nightmare. These are ridiculous and obvious mistakes that they are continually making. Hard to believe these are all just unfortunate oversights.

Yet only a tiny percent of the conversation is directed towards them. I suppose it's because most people here own a slew of PSA graded cards, and want to maintain the integrity and value of their investments.

But I have seen countless discrepancies in their numerical grading, and wish the entire system could be revamped to a system like Corey S. suggested. It will obviously never happen now that we're so far down this road. But suffice to say many/most of the people on this board could do an equal or better job than these "professional graders".

And even with that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess a majority of people need someone else to legitimize the worth of their collection.

I posted a few hours ago my thoughts about PSA in this thread (post 84) as I have posted in the past as well. I agree with you 100% with your bold. Totally unacceptable, especially year after year.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...=268541&page=2

[perezfan]

Yeah.... that was a great post!

And just for the record, Jack Nicholson was finally brought down in that classic film.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Well if you read the stockholders info, their warranty claims have exploded in the last two years, so maybe they'll start investing refund money in avoiding refunds? (Meaning better grading)

[tschock]

Altered cards are like HPV.

• They are pervasive.
• Many people have them but don't know they do.
• And the people that do have them, and know they have them, don't want to admit they have them.

[drcy]

Before they come to auction I think down the road the very expensive cards will be more closely and seriously examined for alterations, likely by a new service, and the provenance of high end cards will be taken more seriously. Cetainly, for a $100,000, or even $40,000 card, this would be quite reasonable, and, perhaps some day, the norm.

Interestingly, with the T206 Honus Wagner sales, the provenance (history) is usually pretty prominent in the description.

I suspect things will change, at least for the extremely expensive cards.

Duly note that with art and artifacts, there are scientific devices (call them 'ultra advanced blacklights') that are used to test the molecular structure and can identify all the chemicals and compounds. They are so advanced that not only can they identify a real diamond, they can tell you, by the molecular tests, where in the world they originated.

I write for the SABR baseball card committee, and it could all start with a serious article on the topic at SABR.