Video: Examining PSA's Grading Practices

[jchcollins]

Great video. I enjoy following you on Instagram as well.

I’ve said for a long time that due to the inherent level of subjectivity in grading that cannot be escaped - at some point sooner or later, all grading is basically fraudulent. It’s just an opinion. I remember 20 years ago the laughing that went on over the distinction between “Mint” and “Gem Mint”, especially for vintage. As Bruce Moreland said on his old grading page from the early 2000’s: “If someone tells you a vintage card is mint, they are probably wrong; so if they tell you it is “gem mint” - they are probably as wrong.” It’s a term that is useless outside the odd world of TPG’s, and sometimes even there.

If 2019-20 has proven anything with grading, it’s that many slab opinions should be taken with a huge grain of salt. It’s just an opinion. And yes, I totally believe that PSA limits the quantities of 10’s given out to key cards so as to drive up the value. When you label a product based only on “opinion” which is subjective and not really subject to a verifiable analysis - and the higher your opinion is, the more - sometimes exponentially more - that opinion is worth - well then, the incentive to lose objectivity and fudge is there from the beginning.


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