Leon, how come you and some of the other guys don't start a grading company?

[marvjung]

Hi - Leon, was wondering why you and a few others on this board start a grading company strictly for Vintage material?

I had posted on a thread before, that I use this forum as a tool to better educate myself on the nuances of the "T's", including spotting fakes, making good buys, how NOT to make a bad buy, who to buy from, etc, etc, and knowing what you and many on this board know...well...it just makes sense.

The cumulative knowledge of just the handful of members on this board outpaces, what I can assume, an entire department at grading companies like PSA and SGC.

For example, the recent "outing" of Chan - that research involved was not only time consuming, but near flawlessly documented and detailed. If only a FRACTION of this kind of detail was involved at SGC or PSA or PRO, or wherever, I believe it could quite restore the integrity of grading (at least on the vintage level).

Of course, this is all moot as I'm sure we all have day jobs?

[slidekellyslide]

It is IMO an incredible conflict of interest to be both a professional grader and collector at the same time. Would you buy a PSA 10 from Joe Orlando?

[Doug]

Good point, but I would think that at least some graders collect too.

[oldjudge]

Leon--Just what you need, another headache

[V117collector]

Here’s a good name for Leon’s grading company, “Trust Honest Cards”!

[dennis]

[QUOTE=marvjung;723759]Hi - Leon, was wondering why you and a few others on this board start a grading company strictly for Vintage material?



joke?

[Jim VB]

Geesh! What a great idea. Leon still has a few hairs left. His blood pressure hasn't popped any arteries, yet. His ulcers seem under control. He's got plenty of free time. I mean, he's only juggling a day job, his own collecting, this board, an auction house, his family, his community involvement, and softball.

Let's do it!

[marvjung]

Well, I asked the question because I felt there's just a tremendous amount of high quality knowledge on this board - there's so much information, even after three months, I still randomly go through pages to read past posts.

As for conflict of interest....well...hmmm....Rob Lifson doesn't have a personal collection? Bill Maestro didn't? It seems that several of the higher end auction houses have members that have personal collections. Am I wrong?

Just a thought

[Leon]

I think somewhere in this suggestion there is a compliment so I do appreciate that. That being said there is no way in the world I would want to start a grading company. SGC guys and Beckett guys are good friends and that is close enough for me.....kind regards

Jim- you forgot my 2 failing restaurants......I have 2 stand alone restaurants with about 30 employees total.....someone else is running them but I have more involvement than I want to.

[marvjung]

Originally Posted by Leon

I think somewhere in this suggestion there is a compliment so I do appreciate that. That being said there is no way in the world I would want to start a grading company. SGC guys and Beckett guys are good friends and that is close enough for me.....kind regards

Yessir, there is a compliment hehe When I started in on the T series, I was blown away by all the other pre-war stuff, the E series, the 215's the W's, etc, etc and thought it was pretty damn cool So I looked up a solid forum where I could get very reliable information - Net54

[Ladder7]

Can you start up the grading company after adding a no brown-nosing line to the faq's please. *wink*

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by marvjung

As for conflict of interest....well...hmmm....Rob Lifson doesn't have a personal collection? Bill Maestro didn't? It seems that several of the higher end auction houses have members that have personal collections. Am I wrong?

Just a thought

Good point, and most auction houses have taken steps recently to make sure there is no impropriety...honest auto-bid, keeping bidder records, et cetera.

I still wouldn't buy a GEM MINT encapsulated card from someone who works at one of the grading companies.

[marvjung]

Originally Posted by Ladder7

Can you start up the grading company after adding a no brown-nosing line to the faq's please. *wink*

Not brown-nosing...simply showing my appreciation for the knowledge provided. I haven't been collecting this stuff long enough to really provide any thorough feedback like many on the board. that is all

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by Leon

Jim- you forgot my 2 failing restaurants......I have 2 stand alone restaurants with about 30 employees total.....someone else is running them but I have more involvement than I want to.

I must have missed that nugget. Maybe you need to advertise more?

Honestly, the restaurant business may be the only "legal" thing to burn through money faster than this hobby. (The "legal" qualification excludes: crack/cocaine usage, bookies, and dog and cock fighting, among other things.)

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I still wouldn't buy a GEM MINT encapsulated card from someone who works at one of the grading companies.

So you're saying you won't buy cards from Beckett Media?

[Leon]

Actually they are Grandy's restaurants in Tarrant County (Arlington and Ft Worth). They have been doing a lot better lately and today we found 21k that forgot to be deposited. We have a new point of sale system and the merchant services sales (credit cards) weren't being deposited yet. lt is a good day today!!

Whenever I talk to Chad D, the west coast collector, we always joke about the restaurants. The joke goes something like "how do you make a million dollars in the restaurant business?" Answer- You start out with 2 million.

[V117collector]

Originally Posted by Leon

"how do you make a million dollars in the restaurant business?" Answer- You start out with 2 million.

That was funny!

[ksfarmboy]

Leon, we used to have a couple of Grandy's in Wichita. They had the best rolls I ever tasted and the food was pretty good. Never understood why they went out of business. Wichita is pretty fickle though. If I ever make it down to Arlington I'll have to try it out.

[sb1]

I think you would be surprised at the number of collectors/dealers/auction house owners/employees that have collections. Most had or still have quite a bit.

Scott

[Leon]

Grandy's is a 35 yr old chain and still has about 85 restaurants. They have gone through some rough times in those years. Mainly when they went from all company owned stores to franchises they let some bad operators in. That was the beginning of hard times. I just saw numbers today from my 2 stores, from last weeks sales, and they were better than any week in the last few years. I hope it's a sign of good things to come. (knock on wood). They have a good value proposition but it's all about the management.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by sb1

I think you would be surprised at the number of collectors/dealers/auction house owners/employees that have collections. Most had or still have quite a bit.

Scott

Scott,

I think the biggest conflict comes in when you add third party grader into that list.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Abravefan11

So you're saying you won't buy cards from Beckett Media?

So Beckett sells encapsulated cards that they own?

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by sb1

I think you would be surprised at the number of collectors/dealers/auction house owners/employees that have collections. Most had or still have quite a bit.

Scott

Actually I'm not surprised about that....I can't think of an auctioneer in this business that doesn't collect. I would be much more concerned with an employee or owner of a grading company dealing cards.

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

So Beckett sells encapsulated cards that they own?

I think their stance is they grade the card, then provide the service to sell the card for the owner.

So no they don't own the card.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Abravefan11

I think their stance is they grade the card, then provide the service to sell the card for the owner.

So no they don't own the card.

Do they charge a flat fee to sell or are they taking a percentage of the final price?

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Do they charge a flat fee to sell or are they taking a percentage of the final price?

That I don't know.