Argument for why Tobacco insert cards cannot realistically be Grades of 8 or 9

[shagrotn77]

Tobacco cards aside, I never really saw cards from as recently as the 1960s that would grade PSA 9s and above when I was regularly attending card shows in the 1980s...and I went to a lot of them. Where were all these cards hiding?

[GasHouseGang]

Every once in awhile, you will run across a collector that seems to have looked at the cards once, then put them away. I can imagine some tobacco collector taking the cards out of the package, looking at them, and then placing them in an empty tobacco box or tin and never looking at them again. I'm sure it's rare, but it could happen. Something like the "Black Swamp Find" is incredibly rare, but proves that sometimes cards can survive in amazing condition.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

.

I'll end by turning your question around: How are you going to prevent your raw collection from eventually becoming grist for the doctor's mill if not by getting it graded?

George

My answer to your question is very simple. But, first I must inform you that we are talking about a collection that comprises of every major BB set from 1888 to 1987 (all complete).
And in some cases multiple sets of my favorites....such as 1941 PLAY BALL, 1949 LEAF, 1949 BOWMAN, and 4 different T206 complete (or near complete sets). Plus, several FB sets.

Can you imagine if all these cards (26,000+) were graded, I would need another house to store them in. Actually, I have a large barn, but critters (big and tiny) visit it often.

Anyway, my Grandson is an avid BB fan, and he appreciates the history of the game. He will be inheriting my entire collection.....so, there's my simple answer to you.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[RedsFan1941]

Originally Posted by tedzan

George

My answer to your question is very simple. But, first I must inform you that we are talking about a collection that comprises of every major BB set from 1888 to 1987 (all complete).
And in some cases multiple sets of my favorites....such as 1941 PLAY BALL, 1949 LEAF, 1949 BOWMAN, and 4 different T206 complete (or near complete sets). Plus, several FB sets.

Can you imagine if all these cards (26,000+) were graded, I would need another house to store them in. Actually, I have a large barn, but critters (big and tiny) visit it often.

Anyway, my Grandson is an avid BB fan, and he appreciates the history of the game. He will be inheriting my entire collection.....so, there's my simple answer to you.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

wow!

[Exhibitman]

Anecdotally, the few original accumulations of T cards I have been involved with have been ex or maybe ex+ even with sitting untouched for 100 years. Even the cards I've seen come direct from being pressed inside books for 100 years don't look like the alleged 7-8-9-10 cards out there today.

And grandma, what small borders your cards have!

[Peter_Spaeth]

The many veteran collectors and dealers I have spoken to on this subject over the years have had experiences much closer to Ted's than to Michael's. Perhaps Michael has had access to finds and collections that the rest of these guys haven't, that's the only way I can think of to reconcile all this. But at least among the people I have dealt with, the consensus has been that most 8s and 9s must be altered.

[Exhibitman]

The card show point is salient. Since the seventies I’ve attended literally hundreds of shows; in the late eighties and early nineties it was 2-3 every weekend. For a few years I set up every weekend at local shows. Prewar cards never looked this good in this quantity. Postwar mainstream, yeah, there were plenty of accumulations from baby boomers that surfaced in great shape. I bought, slabbed and sold off some of those and definitely can see high end cards surviving 20-30 years in a childhood bedroom untouched until the parents move. But another fifty years? Rare, or at least rarer than now.

[GeoPoto]

Originally Posted by tedzan

George


Anyway, my Grandson is an avid BB fan, and he appreciates the history of the game. He will be inheriting my entire collection.....so, there's my simple answer to you.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Ted, that is a wonderful answer. I envy your Grandson. I apologize for seeming to pry into your personal plans. My point is an extension of my prediction that the TPG's will soon make it impossible to crack out a graded mid-grade card, doctor it, and get it regraded without being discovered. If I'm right, it will force the doctors to focus on raw cards and create a situation where getting raw cards graded is the only way to prevent them from being doctored before they are graded. I trust your Grandson to sort it out.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

Ted, that is a wonderful answer. I envy your Grandson. I apologize for seeming to pry into your personal plans. My point is an extension of my prediction that the TPG's will soon make it impossible to crack out a graded mid-grade card, doctor it, and get it regraded without being discovered. If I'm right, it will force the doctors to focus on raw cards and create a situation where getting raw cards graded is the only way to prevent them from being doctored before they are graded. I trust your Grandson to sort it out.

George

No need to apologize, you are not prying. Here's my Grandson, Ron.....he graduated from the Univ. of Maine several years ago.
He has a collection of BB card sets (1984 Donruss, 1981 - 1987 Topps). When he was a teenager, he would mow our lawn, and
I would reward him with one of these sets. His favorite cards, though, is his 1952 Topps reprint set. He framed the Mantle card.





Continuing my vast collection is not completely devoid of graded cards. I do have several PSA 5's and 6's, and several SGC 60's.
Furthermore, my T206 Plank, Demmitt, O'Hara, and SOVEREIGN 460 red Cobb are graded "A".

"A" for awesome, and affordable


TED Z

T206 Reference
.