I started collecting a bit earlier, early 70's as a kid, and in 1977 moved to a town with a card store. There wasn't really much for established grades, the first Beckett checklist came out in 78 and I think had grades. I recall the in between grades coming a bit earlier, but I was into both older stuff and "new" stuff, and the chances of a grade that's unclear between two of the basic grades was higher with the old stuff. Why make VG-EX distinction for more modern cards when nearly everyone has plenty of Solid EX cards? (Also keeping in mind that a fairly nice 57 Aaron was $3 and 52 Mantles hadn't gotten over $1000 for a nice one )
I was also fairly inactive as grading got bigger. Skipped shows for a couple years after talking with PSA when they were new. Didn't much like what I heard. To me grade was more about the cards physical state than common production issues like registration and centering. And allowing 1/32 of an inch for a card to be short but not being able to grade cards that were over the standard size seemed wrong.
Back at a big show after a couple years and it seemed like all the stuff people had usually had out in boxes like 50's commons was now graded and being sold for less than the grading fees. Didn't know than about bulk submissions and how much that one really great card would bring.
Grading has always seemed to me to be needed for some things and ok for others. The expensive stuff certainly did benefit, as did the hobby in general for a few years. The investors wanted an easy way to get some consistency. I saw a lot of cards at flea markets at high Beckett for a card that was only G maybe VG, but the seller called it "excellent for its age" ---A crease is still a crease!
I don't quite get the obsession with having the "best" set or card, yeah, Now that I have a few that are the best of that card it's kinda neat. But I don't think I could get into chasing everything in 9 or 10.
I never worried much about the grade, I just liked cards.
Now I use spreadsheets as checklists for some sets and check off the cards in only 3 ways. Capital H is for the ones that are pretty nice and don't seem like something I'd worry about upgrading. Lowercase h is for any card with a "problem" that could range from a big hole and too many creases to count to a fairly nice card that got checked off when I was in a less forgiving mood. Graded cards I put the number in the box. When I'm adding cards I do still check if the nice ones are actually better than the already nice ones I have but I don't really even go out of my way to find upgrades.
Steve B
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