Some Reflefctions on an August Afternoon

[Archive]

Posted By: honus3415

Grading has been the sword that has lead the vintage card market to never before realized prices. And as surely as it has fueled this skyward trend, it will be responsible for it's demise.

Many times hundreds and often thousands of dollars rest upon the "opinion" of a grader. How often do we bicker amongst ourselves about a grade??

I foresee the day when every aspect of a cards condition will be technically analyzed by a computer. Human opinions will be a thing of the past. Every card will have an unbiased technical rating based on it's flaws (wheather visible to the human eye or not).

What will this mean?

It means our respected big three (SGC, PSA and GAI) will become the "PRO" graded cards of tomorrow. When the truth of today's grading accuracy is brought to light, the market will self adjust downward. Collectors\investors will flood the market with high graded\priced cards rather than risk having them found technically unworthy of the quality defined by their (SGC, PSA and GAI) holder. The "documented" inaccuracies will slowly destroy any confidence we ever had in present day's human eye opinions.

What will result?

The investor, which is fueling today's price trends, will look elsewhere for their investments. Afterall, these are pieces of cardboard and not a universally accepted commodity with any true value.

And the true collector will sit back and enjoy his cards just as much as he did when they were worth twice as much.