True Population of Substantial Cards

[JollyElm]

I would guess that a (very, very) large percentage of the cards that have been cracked out and resubmitted have never had their old labels sent in by the owners to be 'processed' (for lack of a better word) and the Cert Numbers removed from the pop reports.

With 'regular' value cards that have pops in the hundreds or thousands, there isn't much motivation to send the labels back in to the TPG. Removing a single PSA 6 from the pop of 685 PSA 6s doesn't have any impact, so why even bother.

And with 'high' value cards, I would imagine many/most people who resubmit them would like to hold onto the old labels just to have a full history of a card's journey, whether or not they want that info for when they eventually sell it.

[benedini]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I would guess that a (very, very) large percentage of the cards that have been cracked out and resubmitted have never had their old labels sent in by the owners to be 'processed' (for lack of a better word) and the Cert Numbers removed from the pop reports.

With 'regular' value cards that have pops in the hundreds or thousands, there isn't much motivation to send the labels back in to the TPG. Removing a single PSA 6 from the pop of 685 PSA 6s doesn't have any impact, so why even bother.

And with 'high' value cards, I would imagine many/most people who resubmit them would like to hold onto the old labels just to have a full history of a card's journey, whether or not they want that info for when they eventually sell it.

Thanks that's EXACTLY what I was asking about. I just have a feeling pop reports for SGC/PSA are pretty far off (on the low side) from reality for the major cards. You're totally correct that it doesn't make a difference for a 1977 Brett whether there's really 1000 of a certain grade or only 800. But for a T206 Cobb variation with a pop of only 16 in a certain grade it's huge if the real number is 8-10 or something.

The same card realistically has a chance to be originally graded out as an SGC. Years later when PSA was selling for way more they cracked and submitted to PSA where even at a bit lower grade they were going to make more. Then later on the buyer who owned it says "no way that's a 3" and sent it back to SGC for a new grade. Potentially 3 pop reports for 1 card.

And that's not to mention the cards that are sent in multiple times in a row trying to get the correct grade. Or the cards purchased in lower grades by card doctors and then cracked out and altered ().

There's a lot of pieces at play with this grading system and (for the most part) it wouldn't be a problem if the old labels were sent back in to the TPG's for removal from their reports. Just how many people consistently do that (if at all) is the question.