Question on Buttercream Ruth in REA

[jmk59]

Lot 6 Buttercream Ruth is graded as Auth. The lot description says that it is not evident why it got this grade - whatever it was that SGC saw had to be pretty subtle.

The Ruth was apparently submitted along with the 12 cards in Lot 7 because they had all come from the same find. Many of the cards in Lot 7 were much more clearly hand cut from a sheet (as opposed to trimmed).

So. Did the Ruth have a lesser chance of getting a numerical grade in its own right because it was sent in with a group of cards with clear indicia of hand-cut edges? Should it have gone in separately? Should the other 12 cards have been sent in after the Ruth was graded, or maybe even not until next auction?

On the other hand, a few cards in the larger lot did get numerical grades, which is a surprise to me.

I guess the question is whether a grader's judgment is affected by the other cards that came in as a group. Note that even if one grader does not get the whole group, it would be impossible that they all wouldn't be aware of a bunch of Buttercreams that came in with a Ruth even if the cards didn't all go to the same grader.

Anyone know how this works or have an opinion on not sending in a key card with a larger group that has visual problems?

Joann