Thoughts on CGC potentially "Restoring" Cards

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by perezfan

It's already happening. Moser and Huigens could each buy multiple houses from the cards they've funneled through PSA.

Shitstorm is already in progress.

They have qnd actively promote a restoration service? Link please

Same posters
Same motives
Adding.nothing to the topic.

Most likely they will offer the service. Any way to make a buck!

[jcmtiger]

They have been restoring comics for years.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by jcmtiger

They have been restoring comics for years.

You would think that means that they'll eventually restore cards, and how that will play out. I know some comic book purists who are staunchly against restored comics.

[BobbyStrawberry]

I don't like this for comics or cards.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

They have qnd actively promote a restoration service? Link please

Same posters
Same motives
Adding.nothing to the topic.

Most likely they will offer the service. Any way to make a buck!

Sorry Ted!

Obviously it's a bad idea that should not gain any traction with cards. Toby's point alone in post #2 should immediately put this bad idea to bed.

[swarmee]

It's not against any law to restore something and then mark it restored. Although I don't like the idea, it's exactly on par with SGC offering the ability to cut cards and then grade them with a "sheet cut" designation. The market will adjust accordingly, and cards like that may sell for what a nice looking PSA AUTH sells for, in the PSA 2-4 price range.

People are going to commit fraud, and if they alter cards as a business model and then catch the alterations if they are submitted later to them, they're doing the right thing. If they alter the cards and then cannot tell they're altered and give them grades on the unaltered scoring chart, there will be major issues.

Does SGC still offer to cut your cards for you?

[luciobar1980]

Restoration is dumb, IMO, in most cases. But it's also very detectable on comics, so i don't see why it wouldn't be for cards.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by luciobar1980

Restoration is dumb, IMO, in most cases. But it's also very detectable on comics, so i don't see why it wouldn't be for cards.

I know there's a portion of the hobby that's skeptical of the grading companies, and what they've slabbed and let through, throughout the years.

[jchcollins]

Restoration almost caught on with cards in the early 90's, but what did instead was professional grading.

To me, the fear that restored cards being accepted could then lead to said cards being busted from slabs and thereby adding an additional dimension of confusion to the current alteration scandal mess with TPG's is silly. The answer to this all along has been more individual collector responsibility and knowledge, and demands of accountability out of hobby partners like graders. PSA and other TPG's have largely gone unimpacted by the events of 2018 - present with the scandal because at the end of the day, there is not a quorum of hobbyists who give a good godd@amn.

At the end of the day what matters is that you are satisfied with your cards as a hobby / investment. Don't buy examples that might be suspect of fraud or alteration - or even restoration - if you don't like that. Short of TPG's investing a ridiculous amount of time, money, and resources in a move towards becoming something more like forensic examiners than people who rate pieces of cardboard on a 1-10 scale (not ever going to happen...), collectors who care know they are responsible for this anyway.

[rjackson44]

is this grading company going to debut?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Short of TPG's investing a ridiculous amount of time, money, and resources in a move towards becoming something more like forensic examiners than people who rate pieces of cardboard on a 1-10 scale (not ever going to happen...),

Why not? It's not expensive to at least begin, and that's what has been done in stamps for over a century.
Very early experts marked the back of the stamp with their mark, a practice that has been fading for decades and is now pretty much gone. Certificates began sometime before 1930.

A similar service for cards wouldn't be all that difficult.

[peanuts]

If they see it as a profitable venture – which it almost certainly would be – then they will eventually roll out the service. I know that I have raw cards that I wouldn't mind having touched up for a small fee, just to make my overall display look a bit nicer.

The only way for them to do this right would be to mark the card itself in some way. UV-reactive ink would be the best choice, though a small printmark might be the simplest way (and making it harder to crack, say, a restored Cobb and sell it raw, as there's significant value even without a TPG).