Posted By:
Al C.risafulliBarry, I'll disagree with that last comment.
In the good old days when you could put a card in a screwdown holder and grade it yourself, I don't believe that everyone was happy.
I believe that many people who sold cards for a living were happy. However, I think that many times, collectors were decidedly UNhappy. That's why we have grading in the first place. Because there was a need for an independent third-party analysis of cards.
I recall lots of instances in the "good old days," having dealers tell me a given card was in "mint condition" when it clearly was not. Similarly, I had dealers tell me that my EX-MT cards were, at best, VG-EX. Grading has helped this hobby immensely, in my opinion.
-Al