Grading hits home

[Archive]

Posted By: Mark M.

I might still think the card was real today if I hadn't sent it in to SGC who informed me it was counterfeit. In other words, if not for a grading company, I would not have even known to press the seller for my money back.

I have bought a lot of vintage cards by now, but I simply do not trust myself to be able to tell a counterfeit from a legit card in person, let alone over the internet. I certainly would not be able to tell a trimmed or altered card on the internet. I'm not in "the business" (and I work 60 hours a week which leaves little time to apprentice under a bb card dealer), so I'm not going to be handling lots of n162s and Texas Tommys and learning about vintage cards on the job. Rather I'm an attorney trying to collect all the HOFers and the last thing I want it to toss and turn, wondering if my n28 Comiskey is real or not, or whether it has a nasty "paper wrinkle" that I can't detect because I do not own a microscope or infrared lighting.

I could be mistaken, but I think with the advent of the internet, there are many new collectors/investors who, like myself, cannot tell based on a scan whether a rare card type is authentic. I would likely stop collecting tomorrow though if grading companies did not exist because it's gut-wrenching to think you might have spent $1k on a reprint.