1. I noticed in the Henry Yee auction that quite a few photos are in PSA slabs and quite a few others are loose but have PSA LOAs accompanying them. I understand why it is not possible to encapsulate an oversized item, but if the item fits in the slab is there a marketing reason to opt for an LOA rather than encapsulation?
There's the whole protection angle, in that if the photo is slabbed, you don't have to worry about what kind of sleeve, toploader, etc arrangement to use to protect them. Beyond that, I would say the option to have a photo slabbed is almost purely a marketing decision in that PSA's slabs are instantly reconizable in the collecting community. See next answer for more on that.
2. Does the PSA service add value to photos on resale?
Yes and no. To an experienced photo collector who knows what they are looking at, in most cases they will not pay more just because someone else puts a label on it telling them what they already know. There are however more and more collectors adding photos to their collections who really have no idea what they are doing and rely on PSA or knowledgable sellers for the most basic information about the photo. So in an auction situation, having someing authenticated by PSA can add value in that it adds another group of potential buyers to the mix. So I guess my answer on this one would be that it shouldn't, but in an auction scenario, often it does.
7. Anyone ever use BVG for encapsulating photos? How did that work out?
Saw this one yesterday: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1919-TYPE-I-...p2047675.l2557
Has a UPI stamp on the back, couldn't have been issued in 1919, and to my eye clearly lacks the contrast and clarity you would expect from a photo printed from the original negative, which was what made me look at the photo of the back in the first place. That's just one example, but given others that have been pointed out in another recent thread, and other drawbacks that I see with BVG's "packaging," I would give some serious thought to what benefit you would actually see from having BVG encapsulate your photos.
8. I have several photos that were encapsulated by CGC. All came from the same seller, J Parrino, and all were images from the Culver Archive. I really liked the product: it was flexible but about twice as thick as a card saver and could be stored in an oversized notebook because it had a three-hole notebook prepunch on the left margin [not shown below]. Anyone know the story on these?
CGC typically handles comic books. In the last few years they finally expanded to comic-related magazines, and more recently (maybe 2 years ago?) added Playboy and Sports Illustrated to the list of magazines they would grade. To my knowledge they have never accepted submissions from the public for photo authenticating, grading or slabbing. From what I understand, Parrino worked some kind of deal with them for his photo slabbing since he had such a large quantity to be done. I have no idea what criteria their "grading" is based on, but I would suspect that any/all info on the flip was provided to them rather than based on authentication performed in-house. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but as you say, I have only ever seen one source of photos slabbed by CGC.
9. As I have not physically handled them: do the PSA and Beckett slabs provide better protection for photos than say an album page with an acid-free comic book or magazine board behind the picture? That is how I store mine now but for certain photos I'd be willing to go with a holder instead.
PSA slabs offer essentially the same protection as a toploader with the top sealed off, in terms of thickness. Comic/Magazine bags and boards work fine as well, though they do not offer quite as much protection as a toploader would (you could still drop the photo on its corner and the backing board would crumple allowing the photo to be damaged, which wouldn't happen with a toploader). Bagged/boarded photos do take up slightly less space and weigh less than toploaders, but you also can't see the back of the photo that way. Beckett slabs are just unwieldy in my opinion. Maybe they offer a little more protection, but good grief, even a dozen photos slabbed in those things take up a horrible amount of space. I can't even imagine having a sizeable collection housed in them. In most DIY storage situations, your biggest risk for damaging the photo will be when you insert it into whatever holder you choose. Personally, for anything larger than 5x7, I use bags/boards and store upright in magazine boxes, but then again that's primarily for inventory for easy sorting, economy of space, and expense of materials. The few photos I hang onto typically go into toploaders and/or album pages, depending on the value of the photo and how often I want to see it.
10. Is there a preference among collectors for numerical grade or "A" only on photos?
I have never met a photo collector who cared about a numerical "grade" on a photo unless they were a recent crossover from card collecting with no prior photo collecting experience.
All of the above are just my opinions/experiences, and others are welcome to disagree or advise otherwise.