Originally Posted by barrysloate (Post 1676467)

I agree Peter, but why have grading disparities? If you understand how to grade a card, it shouldn't be hard to be more consistent and accurate. It's doable.

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth (Post 1676469)

Different people doing the grading is part of the reason. If it were all one guy there might be less variation. And there may be some politics.

Originally Posted by BeanTown (Post 1676458)

Pins, buttons, and Disc are all nitche items which will slowly gain popularity. Very undervalued over the years and as collectors are looking for items they don't have of a key player (like Cobb), they will start collecting these kind of items which will make them more mainstream. We saw this happen with the postcard market over the last 15 years.

There is a great book by Muchinsky "Baseball Pinback Buttons". The book doesn't show everything out there, but it's a great reference guide to educate collectors who want to start collecting these kind of collectibles.

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth (Post 1676469)

Different people doing the grading is part of the reason. If it were all one guy there might be less variation. And there may be some politics.

Originally Posted by barrysloate (Post 1676484)

There shouldn't be any politics with card grading. You assess a card, give it the most accurate grade you can, and then move on to the next one. If any special favors are going on, then the system doesn't work (and since I believe funny stuff happens, that's why I think third party grading needs an overhaul).