Quote:
Originally Posted by robkas68
Although card doctoring has been around for decades the original motivation was mostly for the personal satisfaction of the collector. Obviously there was some money motivation 30 years ago, but nothing like today. And I cannot help but see the irony that the grading companies offer an expensive solution to a problem they helped create. (I'm an attorney and we are good at creating expensive solutions to problems we created too). I have a 1956 Mantle psa 6 and a psa 9. (the 9 by the way is overgraded and about as attractive as the 6).
30 years ago the reaction to the cards would be those are two nice Mantles, I'll give you an extra $20 for that one. Now that psa has dictated that the two cards have subtle differences that justify an insane $30,000 difference in price, there is powerful motivation for plastic surgery.
I collect mostly vintage, but last year I put together a 1986 Fleer basketball set all psa 8. I paid $11 for my psa 8 Johnny Moore card. Somebody paid over $15,000 for a psa 10. Can you honestly tell me that the small differences in the card of a journeyman player justify a $15,000 price difference. Especially since if we broke the cases and resubmitted they might both come back a "9".
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A HUGE +1 there! And that's why I try to go after ultra-rare cards of stars and HOF'ers,rather than ultra-high grade ones. But collectors are by nature competitive, even if only with themselves, but especially so in striving to have something "better" than the next guy. It's in our DNA. As a consequence, for modern cards, "better" means a higher grade (or a card that is supposedly such). You are absolutely right--the actual difference in the cards bearing different grades many, many times can't come even remotely close to justifying the difference in prices paid. But those who collect cards with the "magical" "9" or "10" on their TPG holder believe that possessiing the one with the higher TPG grade gives them bragging rights. Collectors like me simply think they're wasting a lot of money on the holders and slips within them. I'm an attorney also, by the way--40 years of practice, primarily in personal injury law at the trial level, and both civil and criminal appeals, as well as petitions for writs of habeas corpus in the federal court system.
May your collecting bring you joy in any event,
Larry
PS: I believe it was Mastro that said that any pre-war card graded higher than a "7" had been tampered with. Buyers of TPG "8's" and "9's" from that era--caveat emptor!