2 Questions/Observations about TPG Grading

[Steve D]

Regarding your question about when people started grading this way:

It basically began when money started becoming a bigger factor.

Back before PSA, we had Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor. When money started being spent in higher amounts in the 1980s, people started wondering why one Mint condition card was so much better than the next Mint condition card. The 1980s also was when counterfeiting of cards became more and more prevalent (starting with the counterfeit Pete Rose RCs). Soon enough, PSA came on-line to attempt to bring some order to all the "chaos".

Similarly, coin collecting was going along with grading terms such as "Choice-Uncirculated", "Gem-Uncirculated", "Uncirculated", "Borderline/Almost-Uncirculated". Again, when money started becoming a bigger player, and more arguments began over one person's (i.e., the seller) "Gem-Uncirculated" being the next person's (i.e., the buyer) "Choice-Uncirculated", PCGS came around to try to calm everyone's nerves. "Gem-Uncirculated" became PCGS 67-70, "Choice-Uncirculated" became PCGS 65-66 (although many people considered "Choice-Uncirculated" to also include grades 63 and 64), and "Uncirculated" became PCGS 60-64.

So to answer your question.....people started grading this way when money started becoming a bigger factor, and the TPGs started doing their thing.

Steve