[Mark17]

There is a void right now which creates a great opportunity for honest, reputable card dealers. It isn't a new concept either, but to my knowledge it hasn't been fully applied to baseball cards yet. It should be - it would go a long way towards restoring confidence with buyers, as well as being a way to benefit the honest card dealers who want to make the effort to gain and maintain trust in the hobby community.

It's the Letter of Authenticity concept. It's used all the time with game used items. Right now I've got a folder of LOAs for bats and jerseys in my collection, issued by Mears, John Taube (PSA/DNA), Tim Byington (HOF Bats), Kim Stigall (Ballpark Heroes), Jim Rantz (Twins minor league director) and a couple others. They describe what alterations have been done to the items, if any (cracked/repaired handles, other bat markings, whether jerseys are all original or partially restored, etc.) Most of these LOAs have pictures of the item, for positive identification.

The LOAs are only as good as the issuer, in terms of how well I trust their ability to assess an item accurately. In the above cases, I have very high regard for all those peoples' ability and integrity, and therefore, I have confidence buying from them, and so will the next owner of those items, should I decide to sell - because of those LOAs and the people who created them.

So, why don't the top card dealers begin issuing their own LOAs for the high-end cards they sell? Frankly I trust guys like Greg Morris, Chandy Greenholt, etc. much more than any TPG right now. For instance, the LOA could have high res scans of the card front and back, precise measurements as to size (and whether they fit within known tolerances), and whatever other details can be determined. For counterfeit detection, some equipment might be useful: a tool to measure card thickness accurately, black or ultra-violet lighting, microscope, high sensitivity scale to measure weight, and so on.) Not every card dealer would likely have/want/need all of those tools, but the more analysis the could do on the cards they sell, the higher the confidence level would be.

And after they have completed their analysis and created their LOA, they could, if they wanted, send it to a TPG for a second opinion and to get the card slabbed. Think of the boost in confidence that would give the buyer, to have their card authenticated by an honest dealer AND a TPG.... and the resulting value add that would bring.

Personally, I'd rather see the TPG concept just go away, and have the major dealers help return us to the grading scale the hobby grew up with: Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent, Mint. And the in-betweens, like Good-Very Good and Excellent-Mint.

The big mistake the hobby is making right now is that authentication has been left in the hands of a few TPG, who have shown they aren't as reliable as we've wanted to believe. Wouldn't it be far better to put our authentication trust in the hands of people who have already earned our trust, and at the same time, give them a chance to further grow their good reputations and customer base?

Sure, it wouldn't prevent card doctors, but it would create some safe places where we could buy cards with added confidence, and have assurances that the confidence we have would carry with the card when we sell, and when the next guy sells, and so on. Because the high res pictures on that LOA would always need to match the card exactly, and that could be determined long into the future by anyone. The LOA issuers could keep them online, so people could verify the LOA they are receiving has not itself been altered.

I want to see the hobby become safer and stronger, and I want the good guys (honest dealers, honest collectors) to win.