Time to come clean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Archive]

Posted By: William Heitman

Live auctions at the shows used to be loads of fun. I was the screener for many of these auctions all over the country. My job as a screener was to accept or reject the item for the auction and make suggestions to the owner of the item as to starting prices, etc., etc. There were usually a couple of us who did this. I recall rejecting an "autographed" copy of The Babe Ruth Story by Tom Meany that was printed in 1951. The autograph on it wasn't Tom Meany's, it was a beautiful looking Babe Ruth. Prolem????? I used to love setting up at shows. I especially liked it when a kid would start asking questions. Some dealers would ask me why I spent so much time with kids and I'd tell them that a kid didn't just leave my table with a card, he'd leave with knowledge about the card and about the player pictured; and, I figured it might give me someone to talk to when I got old. I've known dealers who had a virtual laboratory in their homes. What they did to cards was disgusting to me. I have to agree that there is a very high percentage of played with cards that are being graded and it raises the question of just how much expertise the graders possess. Whether you or I like a particular card is purely subjective. But grading services are supposed to have objective standards. The problem as I see it is that card collecting never really lent itself to this type of objectivity--there are just too many factors. I have literally seen cards that I would have graded ex/mt that have gotten 3's by PSA and cards that I would have called gd/vg (doesn't exist with PSA) that have gotten 6's and 7's. But who am I to question PSA--they've been around for sooooooo long?