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Posted By: barrysloate

I think someone on this thread touched on an important point when he said he bought his first N162 card, an Anson, and it turned out to be a fake. He felt at a loss because it was the first N162 he had ever seen. I think there is an important service that would be incredibly useful- one that both authenticates cards and looks closely at real cards for tampering. That would benefit and protect evryone. But grading is a completely different issue. A card is either 100% real or 100% fake, so authenticating a card could conceivably be an exact science and save collectors much grief. But a grade is always an opinion, and not necessarily the right one. I think an authentication service is badly needed, a grading service less so. I think we can all learn to grade cards, and the veteran collectors and dealers know about as much as anyone. Yes, unscrupulous dealers always tend to overgrade, but this will catch up with them and in time they will either improve their skills or their business will suffer.