I find this thread troubling on a personal level, for some of you might consider me both a “card” and a “doctor”. It is amusing though to expand the concepts related to the hobby into other fields. The proposal of listing flaws on the flips instead of a numerical grade, I find interesting for two reasons.
First consider if you will old people instead of old cards. As a group we would be spared the humiliation of being graded 1, 2 or 3 with nary a 10 in sight in our retirement enclaves. Our flips would be too large to lug around though and too long to read for practical social events. I suppose we could carry credit cards with embedded chips and have access to ubiquitous chip readers though.
Second consider the field of Plastic Surgery, the true “villains” of medicine. Restoration, augmentation and flaw ablation is their bailiwick. In the world of “people flips”, their work is judged by third party graders, spouses and mirrors.
If your wife was a 4 pre-operatively before the face lift or boob job, and considers herself a 6 after the procedure, the plastic surgeon is successful and rewarded. Maybe it should just be called “Grade Bump Surgery”.
The same type of analogy could be applied to your automobile susceptible to both fender benders or a total loss as the result of an accident. The total loss or “beater” ends up in the collection at a junk yard. The fender bender though is rewarded with a trip to the Body Shop, where the goal is the ultimate grade bump to 10. Corners are restored, centering or at least symmetry is achieved and inevitably a little color is added, before delivery.
So, whether graded or not, fear not for your cardboard collection. Just remember that when purchasing cards, always remember to utter the following.
SHOW ME THE CARDFAX
But don’t ask the ladies about their plastic surgery or look for their scars, just compliment them on their beauty.