I try to identify as best I can the condition of the lobby cards I sell
and whether or not there has been any restoration or repairs to the
cards. By when the standard for the industry becomes "Slabbing" as you
describe below, I will give it up this whole endeavor entirely. As it
is, Ebay has made the whole idea of card condition ridiculous. I can
remember when the biggest dealers used to publish catalogues and
describe condition simply as "generally used" and everyone knew what
that meant. I'm really tired of fending off buyers who object to the
fact that I describe a card as having a few pinholes, knicks and tiny
edge tears and they want to know exactly how many pinholes, where the
pinholes are exactly placed, where the knicks are and how many tiny edge
tears down to the nearest centimeters. I recently got a return from
someone who claimed that my description of a one sheet said "faint brown
stain" and they were returning the poster because you could clearly see
the stain. When I pointed out that faint stain didn't mean invisible
stain they the said the condition wasn't "very good" as I had described
it. There's no winning when the buyer really wants a MINT card but
doesn't want to pay MINT prices so they buy a VERY GOOD card and then
are unhappy because of the defects. FRANC
-----Original Message-----
From: MoPo List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of lobby
card invasion
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 3:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] FA: Should all sellers of lobby cards identify if
they have ANY restoration at all?
Hello Bruce
A question for you:
A lobby card that has a tear in the margin, and was reinforced in the
back with an archival tape in order to prevent further damage. Would
you consider such a card as having had restoration work done to it?
Zeev
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hershenson
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:14 AM
Subject: [MOPO] FA: Should all sellers of lobby cards identify if they
have ANY restoration at all?
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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