Questions for Doug Allen

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Posted By: barrysloate

I've always felt that many of the problems that arise from cards either being misgraded, or altered cards getting graded at all, occur because the graders do not spend as much time looking at a card as they should. I have never witnessed a card being professionally graded but I can only imagine a factory set-up where there are so many submissions and so many deadlines to make. Would collectors pay more money to have their cards graded if they felt there was a much greater likelihood that nothing would go undetected? I know that is how it works in theory- if I send a card in I value at say 10K I must pay $100 to have it graded, and in return I am offered two-hour turnaround. I also assume in return for my $100 the card is painstakingly examined, but are the graders actually spending that extra time testing it for tampering? I don't know, but I think they are forced to balance speed versus accuracy as cards have to get in and out as fast as possible. Maybe one of the services could comment on this. Do they feel overwhelmed by too much work and therefore are compelled to rush through a process that really demands more time? Because if the graders could somehow find a way to detect these ironed out creases, these threads would not be necessary. On the other hand, if ironed out creases are impossible to detect regardless of what technology is used, then there is unfortunately no solution to this problem.