Grading Guarantees - Are They For Real???

[jchcollins]

Bob, all good points. And I would agree that modern is definitely driving the TPG's right now. As I've alluded, just for me personally at some point last year I had to make the call that slabs were not a must have for my ongoing collection, just due to all the issues I perceived. Some were some of the things we've been talking about here. Some were more just "me" things, i.e. SGC using faulty inserts with jagged plastic edges. At the end of the day I determined this was not actually hurting cards but it bugged the crap out of me. I digress... But given the amount of cards I had busted for problems either with the slabs or other things to do with the grading, I decided at least for cards that I can buy in person, I trust myself and some of the folks I do business with enough to make an evaluation myself and buy a raw card. Even expensive ones, for me say a Mantle or other nice 50's and 60's stars. When buying cards I cannot inspect in my hands first, like on eBay or even once here on the BST - I will admit a preference for a nice looking slab to make sure of what I'm getting ballpark-wise for condition. As much as my earlier posts may have sounded otherwise, PSA and SGC still do get a majority of pure technical grading correct still. Maybe not 90%, maybe not 80% - but 65%-ish on vintage? Eh, ok I can buy that. It's not perfect but if I can see a good scan and agree yes, that PSA 5 looks like a 5 - then I'm usually good. I rarely have problems with cards like that once in hand.

Good conversation. I do of course hope at the end of the day that the TPG's can evolve and change, and maybe that even some of the new entrants since the bubble here over the last 3 years can make some waves eventually and perhaps become sleeper favorites. That's kind of how SGC evolved in the early 2000's...