A New Idea for Grading Photographic Cards

[Matthew H]

Good idea, Barry, mainly IMO because TPGs will never account for photo quality in the overall grade (like they should have all along)

I think most collectors look for photo quality first so having a second grade for eye appeal is not really necessary. I think the cards that are not visually appealing yet grade high simply get scooped up by people who think they got a great deal on a card to flip. The reality is that collectors don't want the card, only other flippers who decided to stop bidding when they felt like they could no longer triple their money.

[19cbb]

This could be a great discussion topic for the 'Net54baseball Dinner' attendees.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I don't see the need, people can judge photo quality for themselves?

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I don't see the need, people can judge photo quality for themselves?

I just got on and was going to say the same thing. And someone even mentioned that if a 3 looked like a 4 the market would take that into consideration. Sheesh!

[bcbgcbrcb]

If the criteria for this alternative grading scale is "real photos" only, other than Old Judges, are there any other cards that would fall into this category besides the ultra-rare 4 Base Hits, G & B, etc.? Off the top of my head, the one other set that I can think of is the Tatoo Orbit (self-developing) cards.

Although I agree with your thinking, Barry, that image is almost everything on these types of cards, my guess is that 95% of the time that this would come into play would be for Old Judges only.

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

If the criteria for this alternative grading scale is "real photos" only, other than Old Judges, are there any other cards that would fall into this category besides the ultra-rare 4 Base Hits, G & B, etc.? Off the top of my head, the one other set that I can think of is the Tatoo Orbit (self-developing) cards.

Although I agree with your thinking, Barry, that image is almost everything on these types of cards, my guess is that 95% of the time that this would come into play would be for Old Judges only.

Phil,

Punch, Billiken and both Aguilitas issues are photographs - highly variable in focus and quality. I am sure that most people do not care about these cards much, but it would be nice to include them if this idea ever took off (and I hope that it would).

[JamesGallo]

Great idea, but as mentioned I think some people (ie advanced and knowledable collectors) already do this. This was proven by the extremely soft price of the Wright in the Goodwin auction. It went for about half or less of what a good image in the same grade would have sold for.

I too would rather have a card with a lower grade and a stronger image. This is very similiar to a card having a nice front but a beat back, it will sell for more cause the front is nice.

As for the grading system Beckett might be the first to do this, They could use the auto grade part of the slab any just put in a photo grade instead.

I know SGC can have problems with what is put on the label and PSA seems to be all over the place, but Beckett could do it nicely and with ease.

James G

[barrysloate]

Well despite some people feeling this would not be necessary, I think that a better system for grading photographic cards is needed. We originally felt that a card in otherwise Excellent condition, but with a very light photo, might grade no higher than Good. But this was considered too radical, and something no grading service would consider. So I tried to come up with an alternative that might work better. If collectors say just leave everything as is that's fine, but I still feel that the system currently in place is a poor one.

[Howe’s Hunter]

where is the N172 Harry Wright card/photo shown that is the starting point of this thread. I'd just like to see it, but when I type N172 Harry Wright in the search criteria, I get a want list from June, another post in April, then it jumps back to 2010. Just curious to see what started this all. Thanks.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by StuckInOmaha

where is the N172 Harry Wright card/photo shown that is the starting point of this thread. I'd just like to see it, but when I type N172 Harry Wright in the search criteria, I get a want list from June, another post in April, then it jumps back to 2010. Just curious to see what started this all. Thanks.

19th Century B/S/T section.

[JamesGallo]

Originally Posted by StuckInOmaha

where is the N172 Harry Wright card/photo shown that is the starting point of this thread. I'd just like to see it, but when I type N172 Harry Wright in the search criteria, I get a want list from June, another post in April, then it jumps back to 2010. Just curious to see what started this all. Thanks.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=138657

[paul]

I like the idea. But I think a major hurdle from the grading companies' wooden perspective would be the set registries. For all those millions of collectors putting together N172 or G&B sets, how would you count the photographic quality subgrade in the registry contests? I don't think the grading companies would be perceptive enough to realize this is a non issue.