Posted By:
NickI think, to a certain extent, all these "mistakes" have to be judged on intent.
What i mean by that is... If PSA makes right on the "Nodgrass", then at the end of the day, i think it ends up being a good story about the hobby, not a bad one. Sure, it stinks that the card got into a holder in the first place, but thats human error. The major auction houses put out several thousand lots each year and to only have an issue with a few, really isnt a bad percentage. While everyone would like it to be a perfect hobby, it never was, and never will be.
It is hard to judge intent though.. Take the Ruth ball. While it would be great for PSA and JSA to agree on EVERY autograph, thats not going to happen. So as an auction house, you have to say either... A- we are only going to take items that BOTH agree on (which will lose them money at times) or B- Do what they think is truly right. It appears that (and im guessing here) that greed got the best of Mastro at first and then when they got a little heat, they rethought things and made the right decision. Again, at the end of the day, they got it right.
The bigger issue is with truly crooked people.. The found cards in the grandparents attic..... blatant forgers.....Shill bidding auction houses, etc.... Im not a lover of PSA or JSA or Mastro or REA.. and they all make mistakes but in the long run I think that they do try there best to "get it right" and i think thats all you can ask for. If everyone did that, slowly, maybe the hobby would be "more fun" like it was 20 years ago.