How long will it be
 

before there is a grading company that grades the grading slabs that the cards are in?

I thought about this the other day when I was introducing my 16month old to baseball cards and letting her look at them and run around the house with them. I was able to do this confidently because of the slabs the cards are in (and one Hank Aaron that isn't graded but in a screw down which was her favorite to play with). I then thought about how when some of those cards came out people thought it couldn't hurt any if children played with the cards directly.

So am I possibly devaluing my cards in 40+years by letting my child play with the cards in slabs now? Will a card with an error flip be worth more? Will a nick in the case loose $1000s? Will earlier serial numbers be worth more than later serial numbers?

Something to think about.

About 14 months ago :D

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=129656

I'll be a raw collector busting out every card I get by then.

Eventually you may have to bust two slabs to get to that card. :p

They weren't grading slabs were they? I can't tell because the site is already gone.:rolleyes:

I think they were just authenticating the slabs, but I don't remember. Not surprised their site is already gone.

As much as a lot of people here like to complain about the grading companies and the whole concept of graded cards, it will never happen, at least not with any type of success.

To grade the grade
 

I personally think there should be a company that grades the grades given on slabs...perhaps with the old school A through F measuring stick. For example, a PSA 7 card could be given a 'B-' to indicate how accurately the grader graded the card, and it could be designated as such PSA7:B-

Brian

Around 1999-2001 I asked a long time dealer what "PSA" was because I had seen the term was on ebay but didn't know what it meant. He tried to explain the grading to me and pretty much told me that it was just a fad to get more money out of people that wasn't going to last very long.

Now he uses PSA to grade his cards and sell them. So you never know what people will pay to have done that right now just doesn't seem to make sense.

I am not for grading slabs. I just thought it was an interesting thought trying to think of what could happen to the hobby in the future that I can't fathom now.

Speaking of which I thought I once saw one of the newer topps buyback (new era card sized encasing a t206 between clear plastic in the middle) graded high (8-10) yet the original t206 was no higher than a 4. That would have been the first I had thought of the holder of a card being graded instead of the original card. I have not seen one in a long time so I don't know if it was a third tier grading party like PRO.

Why slab? Here's why
 

Over the years before PSA etc. I bought literally hundreds of T206s at shows, including about a half dozen Nationals. They all looked good to me, and I paid a a fair price for them.

After grading redefined the hobby, I sent them off. Of the ninety or so I submitted, about a third showed up as trimmed. Now a few of these were, on subsequent resubmission, deemed not trimmed, but most received the same "grade" on second try.

So while I was buying for the fun of it, some of those from whom I bought were cheating me.

I still have lots of good cards that aren't slabbed, and never will be. That's because I bought them in the fifties, a pack at a time, and know where they've been ever since.

But buy another ungraded T206? You must be kidding.

I'm guessing, and tell me if I'm wrong, that you submitted your "high grade" cards if you submitted 90 of the hundreds. In my opinion all high grade T206s are suspect. That doesn't mean that I think they are all trimmed, just that I suspect them to be until I see them in hand.

I don't worry so much about the ones without those "sharp" corners.

They already do it with coins (caccoin.com) so its only a matter of time when a company like CAC sees the need in the baseball card industry. A CAC coin does tend to sell for more money than a non CAC coin.

Speaking for myself I don't own and don't care to own a slabbed/graded T206. Too bulky for my liking. I prefer them in toploaders. Of course my cards are all beaters but that's what I like about them.