Quote:
Originally Posted by Hankphenom
I've never understood the PSA and other TPGs' scale at either ends. The lower end is much too loose, in my opinion--I always haul out the same example, in this case that pretty 1 Gehrig gets the exact same grade as one run over repeatedly by a tank in the mud. At the other end, if the human eye cannot detect any imperfections above a 4, what are the other five grades for? I'll tell you what they're for: to create a lucrative market at the high end for dealers and auction houses to satisfy their rich OCD clients' obsessions. And gosh, who do you think the TPGs get most of their business from (with big discounts for the quantities involved)? That's right, it's the dealers and auction houses that will take those artificial grades and make fortunes off them. Meanwhile, collectors now must get all their cards graded (at retail) and pay multiples for the same cards they were collecting before the TPGs came along. But hey, let's give credit where credit's due: what a great game these guys have created for themselves! One last blast: if you have a 10-point grading scale, shouldn't elementary mathematics suggest that the difference between each grade be approximately equal? The problem with that though, is that if everybody could distinguish with their own eyes between a 9 and a 10, or a 1 and a 2, or even a 5 and a 6, who needs the TPGS and their mystical behind-the-curtains magic? And that is the actual situation that existed in the card market until they managed to throw it over, whereby the P-Mint scale was easily grasped and more or less abided by collectors and dealers alike. Differences in opinion were worked out in the marketplace.
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Hank's post really sums up my beliefs as well. There's way to much variance across the lower grades (1 - 3). And it is way too minute between the higher grades (7 - 10). Their scale is ridiculous and makes no sense.
I would wholeheartedly support a TPG that administered even increments from 1 to 10, based on actual condition and eye-appeal. Or better yet, a TPG that simply slabs the card as authentic or not
with no numerical grade, so the collector can determine for themselves. I really wish a service like this would come along.