SGC no longer grading t206s?

[cammb]

Originally Posted by Eric72

I'm not picking on you or singling you out. However, our brief exchange reminded me of something. Pardon me for "thinking out loud" here.

With the recent influx of younger collectors into the hobby, it won't be long until there are large numbers of twenty-somethings with experience and expertise in vintage. Modern (and "ultra-modern") cards tend to be a gateway into older material. It stands to reason the boom of 2020 will lead to a significant increase in the amount of hobbyists who venture over to our side of the sandbox. If even a small fraction of these newcomers are in it for the long haul, it likely leads to at least two things:

1. A new generation of vintage collectors, which could theoretically keep the hobby going for decades
2. A new generation of experts on the horizon

Of course, this doesn't help SGC with T206 (or other vintage) cards right now. However, it does give me confidence in the long-term health of the vintage card market.

When SGC started their money grab, they put out a call for job openings, including “graders”. Since then I have noticed a deterioration in the grading of vintage. I know the difference from a NM card compared to a vgex. It seems these graders don’t. I doubt they are all collectors but people looking for jobs. What I saw in the video where young people doing the grading. That’s a fact ,with no disparage meant to their age

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by cammb

When SGC started their money grab, they put out a call for job openings, including “graders”. Since then I have noticed a deterioration in the grading of vintage. I know the difference from a NM card compared to a vgex. It seems these graders don’t. I doubt they are all collectors but people looking for jobs. What I saw in the video where young people doing the grading. That’s a fact ,with no disparage meant to their age

My experience was similar. Also almost overnight, they became centering fanatics. And apparently didn't teach the new graders how to compute centering ratios. A 90/10 card that's otherwise NM should be downgraded, yes, but a 70/30 card that's otherwise perfect shouldn't be a 5. I busted a few SGC slabs like this last year where I felt like even PSA would have given the cards 7's.

[nineunder71]

Eric,
I agree with everything you’ve said on this thread. And absolutely, we have multiple young members here with tons of expertise.

However, I do see both sides of the discussion.

The young members here (like Wazoo) have expertise because they have experience in dealing with vintage cards.

Irrelevant is someone’s age. If they have been dealing with T206s for ten years, they are qualified and typically will give a qualified opinion.

Tony’s point, as I see it, is that these young graders don’t have experience, hence they are not qualified.

Cheers All

Colton

[nineunder71]

Further, what I find funny, is that if Tony would have seen the same video of graders, but it would have been a room full of 60 and 70 year olds at the grading tables, I think there is a good chance he would have just assumed those older graders had experience.

However, the chance or % of the older graders being just as ignorant of vintage cards as the young ones, and just being there for the job, would probably be similar

Haha

Just my two cents

[cammb]

Originally Posted by nineunder71

Further, what I find funny, is that if Tony would have seen the same video of graders, but it would have been a room full of 60 and 70 year olds at the grading tables, I think there is a good chance he would have just assumed those older graders had experience.

However, the chance or % of the older graders being just as ignorant of vintage cards as the young ones, and just being there for the job, would probably be similar

Haha

Just my two cents

No. You missed the whole point. I have been subbing to SGC for years. I sub only vintage. They were pretty consistent with their grades. What I said was their quality of grading has subsided due to the hiring of graders right off the street. In the video I saw, the initial graders looked pretty young. The grading for vintage has declined while modern remains high. I know an ex/mt or NM when I see one but to constantly get or see grades at vg/ex is suspect. My theory is quality control is lacking in an effort to push the product out.

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by cammb

When SGC started their money grab, they put out a call for job openings, including “graders”. Since then I have noticed a deterioration in the grading of vintage. I know the difference from a NM card compared to a vgex. It seems these graders don’t. I doubt they are all collectors but people looking for jobs. What I saw in the video where young people doing the grading. That’s a fact ,with no disparage meant to their age

I helped break out several dozen cards of freshly graded vintage material from SGC. Not a single card graded above a 6 and most were 5s and 5.5s. In the submission there were obvious VG+ to VG-EX cards with light wrinkles and noticeable corner wear and then cards that were wrinkle free, well centered that most would deem NM+ to NM-MT and those were in 5s and 5.5s.

Don't care if PSA is $150 per card, there is no point paying $30 per card to be crushed like that. For a buyer of that stuff it is a dream come true but not if you are the seller. Selling an under graded SGC card for top dollar is nearly impossible right now.