ISA Grading

[Section103]

Originally Posted by notfast

Fun fact: ISA has been around for 10+ years. No one cares about them which is why they are grouped in with random startup companies like HGA, FCG etc

Don’t ask the owner why none of his collection is in ISA holders either. You won’t get a legit answer.

Not here to defend ISA in the slightest - I wouldnt give them the time of day.....but its not entirely clear to me that the owner of a company should own cards graded by his own company. That is a clear and obvious conflict of interest.

[jchcollins]

They may very well be just fine, but to me it's kind of like what's the point? Especially with vintage, cards not graded by one of what the hobby considers the big 4 aren't really worth more in a slab than they are raw. I have a couple of odds and ends like this which I have picked up simply because I wanted the card and thought it was in reasonable shape for the price - but I don't seek them out. In many cases the grades and grading consistency don't seem very trustworthy.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

They may very well be just fine, but to me it's kind of like what's the point? Especially with vintage, cards not graded by one of what the hobby considers the big 4 aren't really worth more in a slab than they are raw. I have a couple of odds and ends like this which I have picked up simply because I wanted the card and thought it was in reasonable shape for the price - but I don't seek them out. In many cases the grades and grading consistency don't seem very trustworthy.

Might actually be worth less in some cases because collectors assume that the grader was either compromised or incompetent, due to the high number of fakes or trims that got into their holders before they went kaput.

And before someone says it, this isn’t intended to slander any of the big 4 current graders.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by raulus

Might actually be worth less in some cases because collectors assume that the grader was either compromised or incompetent, due to the high number of fakes or trims that got into their holders before they went kaput.

And before someone says it, this isn’t intended to slander any of the big 4 current graders.

Right. If I ever had something I was going to sell in one of those slabs, I'd probably pop it first.