let me get this straight...

[FrankWakefield]

.

[HRBAKER]

Largely it's a hobby and business without any rules or regulations with the exception of those you choose to impose upon yourself.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

Largely it's a hobby and business without any rules or regulations with the exception of those you choose to impose upon yourself.

Truer words never spoken. Well, at least until those pesky federal agents start poking around.

[ullmandds]

welcome back...to the WILD WILD WEST, folks!!!

[E93]

It kind of takes the "3rd party" out of "3rd Party Grading", doesn't it?
JimB

[T206DK]

I'm with Frank on this one. What a conflict of interest. I'll have to check the older threads about Beckett.

[drc]

Actually, the answer is no. Beckett Grading Services is a division within Becket Media. BGS grades cards but does not run the auctions.

I understand and appreciate many will see little significance in this distinction, and that's fine by me. My point here was to answer the initial question as it was written, and the question named a specific division within Beckett, BGS. If the question was a more general "Does Beckett grade and auction cards?," my answer would be Yes.

If someone fallows up with, "So, David, are you claiming it's not a conflict interest to ...," I'll repeat what I just said: I was just answering the question as it was written.

[M's_Fan]

Conflict of interest? Yes, but it seems like the market and collectors have a nice way of dealing with that by applying a discount to BVG cards.

For example, I bought a BVG 3.5 T206 Cobb "Bat off Shoulder" for about $721 last year. A PSA 3 Cobb sold for $1100 at the time. I was happy to pick it up and cross it over to an SGC 40. I wondered why the auction went for so low, but I suspect it may be that people don't trust Beckett auctions or Beckett grading because of this conflict of interest, so they bid less. You'll always be safe if you buy the card, not the holder.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Truer words never spoken. Well, at least until those pesky federal agents start poking around.

How long has it been since the National where the subpoenas were served? Are we going on two years now?

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

How long has it been since the National where the subpoenas were served? Are we going on two years now?

Yep, Chicago, 2008 National

[Bobsbats]

Isn't this the same reason that James Spence stopped selling autographs? I would be willing to bet that any autographs that he sold would have come with a certificate saying it was authentic.......but if he still sold autographs, would anyone trust his authentication ?