Why Do Oldtime Dealers over grade their cards?

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Posted By: John Harrell

If you look at old copies of Beckett's (15 years ago), old copies of Tuff Stuff, or other old price guides, you'll see very standard grades for cards. A VG card could have minor creases. A NM card could have one fuzzy corner. An EXMT card would have 4 fuzzy corners. These were accepted standards for many years, until we got slabbed cards. The old dealers simply keep their original standards, which I personally prefer. I don't think they, as a whole, are trying to fool anybody, although I agree that trying to pass a card off as NM, EX, or VG with paper loss or significant damage is not ethical. I occasionally buy slabbed cards to fill holes in my binders, and it amuses me that a slabbed card with sharp corners, nice centering, and a slight wrinkle is graded GD. It would often have graded EX or certainly no worse than VGEX under the old system, which was fine with me as I collect lower grade cards anyway. Granted, I don't don't get to shows or shops anymore, since there are none where I live, and Ebay is basically my only source for my collection. However, I wouldn't consider an card description using the old grading system to be deceptive.

John