PSA Inconsistency and others

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Posted By: Mark

95% of my cards are either raw, or were cracked out of their slabs (by me) to display better, and without unsightly bar codes. I never valued someone else's opinion on how my cards graded. And even though I detest the "professional grading" of cards (in its current form) I've been tempted on occasion to go that route...

In the early/mid '90s, I purchased a lot of pre-war cards from dealers like Sportscards Plus, Hunt's, Kit Young, and Mike Wheat. All cards were graded between "EX" and "NRMT" (so probably VG/EX to EX/MT, by today's standards). Sometimes, I am curious to see what grades these cards would now get, and have nearly even submitted a few. I know they would be more valuable if graded, but for some reason I have never been able to force myself to do it.

Recurring occurances like this thread, and similar horror stories always seem to hold me back from submitting. I remember when grading first came on the scene... Sportscards Plus had 3 examples of a 1933 Goudey Ruth (green background). The card most out of register was a blurry mess, but obtained the highest grade of the 3... it had the sharpest corners, by a microscopic/miniscule margin (barely visible to the naked eye). I remember thinking "who cares?!!" The overall image of that card was by far the worst of the 3, yet it graded 2 full points higher than the other two. I will never understand the value assigned to grading (both intellectually and monetarily) in its current form.