The one good thing about PSA

[Archive]

Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Richard LLoyd your are absolutely right; so, don't apologize
for your comments. The entire card grading business has become
so arbitrary. PSA will reject a card due to "evidence of trim"
and the same card will be slabbed by SGC with an 88 grade.
This happened to me several years ago and it was then that I
became turned off on Graded cards.

Now, I knew my 1949 Bowman Musial was not trimmed because it
was one of my original cards that survived in great shape. I
tried to convince the PSA guy about this and he became very
belligerant with me. It was not a nice scene.

I have popped many graded cards from their plastic slabs since
and believe me there is no consistency in these graded cards.
Like you eluded to, a given card in Near Mint Condition can get
a 7 or 8 or even a 9 grade, depending on several human factors
on any given day. Let's face it, the card grading business is
very SUBJECTIVE. And unfortunately depends on who in the hobby
is submitting the cards to be graded.

But, it isn't going away, in fact the demand on graded cards is
increasing. And, one of the main factors supporting this growth
is Ebay. A majority of buyers on Ebay will not bid on a given
card unless it is slabbed. There is a great fear that a "raw"
card, especially an apparent Hi Grade one, will have been in
some way altered. Well, not too long ago, an SGC graded T206
rare Doyle (Nat. Lge) was proven to be an altered card.

I've been expecting the Graded Card Bubble to "pop"; but, I am
not holding my breadth till it does.