My Crazy New Grading Idea Under 6 = Authentic

[perezfan]

How about we just go back to buying raw, and be our own judges of the cards' grade? If a card I want happens to be in a slab, I just crack it out anyway.

Way too much credence is given to the meaningless number on the slab. The hobby was much more fun before the sheep empowered these 3rd Party Dictators.

[butchie_t]

Well, it appears that regardless of perceived grade, if you send it to SGC, pretty danged good chance it will come back Authentic anyway.

Their, ummm, business model has changed somewhat. cough....

Butch Turner

[drcy]

There's great and unreasonable variance in condition and aesthetics in the Poor and Fair grading range. The grading scale is very uneven, and especially with F-P grades it really is buy the card not the holder.

[drcy]

Duly note that I've thought that all altered cards should get a Poor grade.

[nolemmings]

I do not find the OP’s idea crazy in the least, although I doubt it will ever come to pass. I suggested many, many years ago (10+) that I would favor a strict Authentic & Unaltered grade for the slabs, and let the eye appeal take over from there. With the registry now firmly entrenched in the hobby, that simply ain’t ever gonna happen– way too many collectors with the “mine is better than yours and I’ll prove it” mentality.

However, I would tweak the idea so as to start the grading at 5. It is my understanding that at that level, there can be no creases or wrinkles in the card that might escape the notice of someone looking at a scan, so a buyer could have some assurance that it was free of that condition. Below that I would have no problem with a system that just notified you of alterations– a grade of Authentic-Altered. IMO, most pre-war collectors don’t give much of a hoot about numeric grades, and many to most sets are not capable of assembly in high grades anyway. Any alteration could be designated on the flip, whether trimmed, marked, erasure, color added, etc. Authentic & unaltered cards would simply be subject to the eye test.

I assume (but do not know) that most post-war collectors don’t hunt for cards graded under 5 as it is, at least those who favor the registry. There are of course exceptions, but I doubt the proposed change would cause all that much outrage in the post-war community. For those who insist on being on top numerically, they can simply stand on their existing collections and/or seek out old graded cards that still bear the vestiges of the 1-4 grading system. Knock yourselves out.

My two or three cents.

[Snowman]

The market already does this though. Some 3s outsell some 5s. Some 4s sell for triple the price as other 4s.

[frankbmd]

I'm blind in my left eye. Does that mean that my cards have less eye appeal even though my left eye is authentic?