Quote:
Originally Posted by 68Hawk
You're assumption that the primary role of grading is to assign judgement as to altered or unaltered.
I would argue the primary role is authenticity of item, and secondarily should be to give an assessment of condition so that it may be valued by pursuing collectors against other existing copies.
Alteration is even more subjective in my opinion than condition.
Who's to say a car has complete original running gear when certain parts are unnumbered?
What exactly is 'original' patina on 18th century furniture?
Those cards you like to collect, are you so sure none that conform to an assessment of unaltered were'nt in fact changed by early owners but in ways that the years have hidden? Even when passed around a group of well regarded hobbyists you'd get different assessments between them.
To me it's a bit silly to have canniptions over the 'dark arts' of todays bad actors in the business.
Grading should simply confer on opinion of Authentic for the issue, or reprint.
Subsequent to that all judgement should be left to the buyer as to judging condition based on eye appeal, whether the card measures correctly for the issue, does it have wear such as wrinkles/rubs etc, and any other valued criteria.
Those assessments could be included in a report on any slabbed card, and the buyer then weights them according to his preference and pays to that measure.
Simples.
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Regardless of the logic here, part of the service being sold is determining if something is altered and, if it is determined to be so, not slabbing it.