there is a useful place for third party grading, if the grading of
all dealers is in agreement with the grading criteria
from what I have seen, I am not always in agreement with grades I
have seen awarded in comics or posters
so the question becomes: if my grading criteria is stricter than the
third-party grader's, are they useful to me?
but that addresses a separate issue from what Bruce and I are talking about
we actually refer to potential conflict of interest issues when the
graders - as noted by your initial post - are involved the
manipulation of the process and the result is adverse to the
consumer, and then I also refer to the market manipulation that
occurs and has in comics, gum cards and coins, when dealers
gerrymander the data etc and/or get favorable grading
Rich
At 02:00 PM 10/11/2011, Geraldine Kudaka wrote:
Wasn't there talk on MOPO a couple of months back about the pros and
cons of grading lobby cards?
I seem to remember there was a discussion after someone had been
burned on a lobby card purchase.
I can see an insecure buyer wanting a third party arbiter reassuring
them about the value of their purchase. If you're spending what
seems to you to be a lot of money, you want reassurances that you're
making a smart move.
But Bruce is right about business that spring up grading changing
the way you collect.
From: Richard Halegua Posters + Comic Art <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 3:00 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Grading
Bruce is kinda correct.. but it isn't just the dealers as for the
most part all the collectors are in the money scam. Comics, baseball
cards and coins being the three most commonly third-party graded
hobbies are no longer stable markets.
At 11:47 AM 10/11/2011, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
I have heard this kind of story over and over through the years in
all kinds of collectible hobbies. The graders take over, and
between then and the investors, they run all the old-timers out of
the hobby, and you end up with a dead hobby where everybody left is
a dealer looking for some new sucker to sell to.
And don't begin to question the relationship (and co-mingled
ownership) of the grading places, the top dealers and the top auction houses!
It hasn't happened to posters, but you never know if it eventually will.
Bruce
On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 11:53 AM, Geraldine Kudaka
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] > wrote:
The action toy world uses grading from AFA which is an off shoot of
CGA to determine a criteria for grading toys to establishes their value.
This past year, on MOPO, there has been talk of grading posters and
lobby cards.
I'd like to put my 2 cents in about this subject.
I went through grading a lot of Star Wars collectibles at AFA. I
called them for information, and they referred me to someone who
works with them, who is also a toy seller and dealer. This AFA
representative offered to personally handle our items, "cleaning
them up" so they could get their best grades, and "giving us the
best price" because my husband was a Star Wars executive. The best
price was paying in advance for grading and paying for a Silver membership..
He promised whatever we didn't use we could get refunded at any time.
Well, guess what. We've been trying to get our money refunded.
First, AFA couldn't find our account. Then, there was a question
about the totals and we were suppose to be sent invoices. That
didn't happened, we got busy and now that I'm asking again for my
hard earned cash, its been like pulling teeth out of a screaming baby.
All of this is to say I hope the poster world does not go the
direction of grading toys.
First, I find it highly unethical that calling AFA, they would
refer me to someone who is a dealer who offer to help me get the
best grade. Makes me wonder what kind of grades he gets for the
items he's selling.
Second, I do not believe AFA has an objective standard. Several of
our Star Wars action figures received a 90 -- which is the highest
you can get for a vintage SW figure -- yet others, which were
seemed to be in as good a condition, received an 80 or 85. These
are still good numbers, but I really wonder about CGA/AFA's
objectivity. When I questioned them, they said it kinda depended
on who was grading that day. I have also found out that sometimes
people will send their toys in to be regraded, just to try and get
a higher point.
Last, I'm really irritated at how difficult it has been getting my
money back. If a business offers you a refund, a refund it should be.
figures are
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at
<http://www.filmfan.com>www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
--
Bruce Hershenson and the other 25 members of the
<http://eMoviePoster.com>eMoviePoster.com team
P.O. Box 874
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when
we take lunch)
<http://www.emovieposter.com/>our site
<http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html>our auctions
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at
<http://www.filmfan.com>www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
