Given that "slabbing" of lobby cards is "just around the corner" (actually,
I have heard it is here, but have not seen any), shouldn't all sellers of
lobby cards identify if they have ANY restoration at all? After all, in
baseball cards, grading companies won't even grade a restored baseball card
AT ALL (unless it is a Honus Wagner T-206 card bought by Wayne Gretsky, but
that's another story for another time!).
Isn't it quite possible that the same standards will come to apply to lobby
cards (given that, like baseball cards, many examples of most survive, so
condition is far more important as a way to distinguish between them)? If
so, collectors will be frantically checking their cards for the slightest
restoration, knowing that a tiny border repair might slash its value (don't
laugh at that idea, because it IS true in baseball cards).
What is "slabbing"? Slabbing is encasing items in a hard plastic sleeve with
a seal that can't be broken, and then the items are professionally graded. *
ANY* restoration of any kind, as well as a detailed condition description is
noted on the back of the sleeve. Proponents of slabbing say that it takes
all the guesswork out of grading items, and it brings lots of new collectors
into a hobby, who are no longer afraid of buying an over-graded item, or one
with hidden restoration. It is indisputable that slabbing attracts a lot of
"investors" into a hobby, and almost always slabbing of items is followed by
a sharp rise in the price of "high grade" *UNRESTORED* items. If the people
who currently "slab" other collectibles begin to do so with lobby cards,
then it is very likely prices will rise on them as well, but prices will
likely fall on cards with any restoration.
*IN EVERY CASE in our current 800 auctions of lobby cards*, we have
described which of them have ever had *ANY *sort of restoration (even a
small piece of tape on the reverse), and which ones have *NEVER *been
restored at all, and *EVERY SINGLE ONE *of the cards that we say has never
had any restoration of any kind, has never had a single piece of tape, and
there is no restoration to the *BACK *of any of those cards. Amazingly,
approximately 70% of these cards have never had *ANY* restoration at all,
and 15% of the 800 cards are in our "fine" condition (far more harsh than
most dealers' "near mint"!), and many of those look like they might have
just been printed (but we assure you they have not!).
What do *YOU* all (y'all, for Allen Day) think?
Bruce
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