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Who Watches the Watchmen

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comicwiz

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Most self-appointed grading consists of consumer recognition of trusted third-party attestors.

The trust is implied, but not backed by any credentialed certification or impartiality, and is lacking protocols to address the central question concerning "who verifies the verifier?"

The original intent of graders was to safeguard protocols from a vulnerability previously thought to be impossible to address in peer-to-peer trading without some third-party grader acting as a verification checkpoint.

What has happened instead is the confluence of enterprising pursuits which have used every available analog and digital resource to subvert the models of authentication, pricing systems, and exposed their weaknesses to a degree where it has left outdated methods of safeguarding collectors very vulnerable.

Now, more than ever, we need to be aware of what this looks like in our everyday collecting pursuits, in order to circumnavigate the various methods of deception that have been used to resemble previously known and recongized systems of trust.

Those that continue to stick their heads in the sand, ignore, or feel that graders will continue to give them the best chance of protection in this ever changing collecting and trading landscape will eventually find out for themselves they have succumbed to the very spoon-feeding that gave graders the foothold in the market they were able to achieve.

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comicwiz

Posted (edited)

The date of this article is April 2020. It's an op-ed that reads like an advertorial, with some ironclad guarantee that comics are "fraud-proof." Some got too cocky, because we'd learn at a much later time (Dec 2023) that by the time this article was published, the "holder tampering" had already been going unnoticed on for 4 years, and really had it's break out year in 2018. And all it took was exposing CGC's reholdering process. Screenshot below links to the full article:

FraudstersdontstandachanceagainstSuperman.thumb.png.d1d80e32160da32c0c110f0272816199.png

Edited by comicwiz
Hydroonic

Posted (edited)

It’s kinda wild how easy it is for some people to get duped, thinking that just because a piece has a certificate, it’s legit. I remember when I decided to pick up a rolex watches clone to see what all the fuss was about. Honestly, it ended up being a great choice—solid build, nice look, and way less stress about scratching or losing it.

It’s funny how some collectors scoff at replicas, but they can offer a taste of luxury without the anxiety. In a market where even the verifiers can be sketchy, maybe it’s time to give clones a second thought. They might just be the unsung heroes for those who want to enjoy the aesthetic without getting burned.

Edited by Hydroonic

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