Are grading companies giving out 8 grades or higher on cards pre 1960 anymore?

[BobC]

What I've always thought was happening was that in the early years of grading, the earlier vintage cards were more dominant in what was being submitted to the TPGs. And as a result, the standards of what was considered as say NM for these older cards that were produced under generally less consistent and lower quality control conditions, along with using inferior quality material, inks, etc., compared to what is used today, were set based on what those earlier vintage cards all seemed to look like. But over the years, the more modern cards, with their higher quality materials, inks, production processes, and seemingly much more stringent quality control standards, have taken over the TPG market.

And when you look at cards from say around 1989, when Upper Deck first came out, to today, you can see the vast improvement in card production and quality for these modern cards versus the earlier, more vintage cards. Hate to admit it, but the overall card quality of modern cards is vastly superior to that of more vintage, pre-1990's cards. Had the TPGs continued using the standards they initially seemed to set for the more vintage cards, it would seem that none of the modern cards would ever end up grading lower than 9's or 10's. But that doesn't necessarily work or help the hobby market for modern cards.

As has been mentioned and questioned on this forum in other threads, there has been speculation that the TPGs needed to differentiate the grading of modern cards so that everything wasn't always just 9's and 10's. This would allow for those few cards that did get the higher 10 grades to then raise the demand for them, and thus their prices, in the eyes of the hobby market. But to do this, they had to really tighten up the standards and measures of what constituted a 10 versus a 9, versus a 7, or lower grade. Which works fine with most all of the newer modern cards with their advanced production techniques and quality. The problem comes though, in how do you then continue to consistently apply these now evolving, seemingly more stringent, standards to all the lower quality vintage cards that previously dominated your grading business? And there's the rub!

Whether intentional or unintentional, TPG graders are going to consistently see more and more modern cards of superior production quality and standards, than they ever did with just looking mostly at more vintage cards like they did in the past. Even if their bosses didn't tell these graders to start being a little more stringent in their grading standards, constantly seeing more and more modern cards of a superior and more consistent quality is eventually going to create some bias in how then then start viewing the lesser quality, older vintage cards. Possibly the only way around that would have been if any of the TPGs proactively came out and stated that they were going to bifurcate the card grading standards, and going forward have two different sets of standards/measures they would use. One more relaxed set of standards for say vintage cards pre-1990s, and the other more stringent set of standards for modern cards say 1990's through today. But then you're potentially upsetting the hobby by trying to openly force a major drastic change on them, that might not go over well. Can especially see that reeking havoc, and pissing off some people in love with Registries, and rankings. And if just one TPG does that, but not the others, that could end up having a negative effect on that TPG's business if their decision ends up not going over well within the hobby community. So, if you're the TPGs, maybe you just shut up and let things evolve naturally on their own and don't rock the boat.

You can easily do an online search to learn that PSA started grading cards in 1991, right at the very beginning of the modern card era supposedly started off in many people's opinion with the issuance of Upper Deck's first ever set in 1989. That was followed by SGC beginning to grade cards in 1998, then Beckett right after in 1999, and finally GAI in the early 2000's. All the high-quality, fancy modern crap was only just starting to come out back then, so the majority of cards being submitted to graders was going to be the earlier, more vintage stuff, that was made using less consistent and lower quality standards, and with inferior materials and production techniques. Nowadays these same TPGs see mostly the newer, super high-quality cards coming in, and now the older vintage cards that used to come in decades ago and looked so good back then, suddenly don't look as good anymore.