OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH the mystery of grading! 1 1

[Mokiguy]

I just thought I'd share what was rattling around my head this morning.

It seems to me that grading is more complicated than it needs to be. Like attorneys (and don't get me going there) have all their Latin terms and procedures ....... why. Why in 2023 are we using Latin language  ...... corpus delicti, de facto, habeas corpus, mea culpa, pro bono ............... why? Is it to keep the law mysterious so that a person must go bankrupt in his/her defense because they can't play the Latin Game?

So what about grading comics? Must it be "mysterious"? Couldn't there be a grading scale that anyone could use? A tick is worth one point, a quarter size stain 10 points, a detached centerfold 10 points, two pages detached 20 points, a quarter inch tear 2 points, two quarter inch tears 4 points, half inch tear 5 points, etc.? When you are all done you add up the points and there's your grade. I get it, people say it's the combined plusses and minuses that make the final grade ........ but why, that's the point? I imagine that keeping it mysterious is sort of like using Latin terms in the law ............... if it was all in plain English, we wouldn't need high priced attorneys, and if it was less mysterious we wouldn't need TPG services.

Well that's what was up in that foolish brain of mine this morning, and now that I've emptied it out I can go on with my day!

[Nick Furious]

I call it Sherpa employment.  You intentionally make something so complex that it requires the average person to hire a professional "sherpa" in order to navigate it properly.  The law is a great example.  I think that tax accounting is another one.  The thing about the comic grading industry though is that the complexity is driven by the market is demanding it.  This is just the grading company responding to the demands of the market.  Buyers of slabbed books take comfort in presuming there was a deep level of complexity in certifying the book with a statement of condition.  Kind of like an auditor certifying the financials of a publicly traded company.  

[zzutak]

I don't think you understand why most experienced collectors use CGC.  It's not because condition grading is "complicated", "mysterious", or difficult to master.    Rather, it's because prospective buyers will generally have more confidence in the true value of the item being offered/sold if the condition grade of that item is certified/established by a well-respected, independent/neutral third party.  And greater confidence on the part of prospective buyers generally results in a greater return for the seller. 

[Hes Dead Jim]

this applies to all parts of american life - if it was easy everybody could do it - if everybody could do it, it wouldnt make anyone any money.

unfortunate side of capitalism.

also don't forget that places like cgc and others only exist so that people can have confidence in something because they cant / dont / or wont trust each other.

kinda like i said in another post regarding art. it's not worth anything unless someone of percieved importance and authority says it is.

[rumrunner71]

Well, somebody's "GEM MINT" X-Force 1 came back as 9.4, eh? 

[Lazyboy]

On 6/4/2023 at 9:04 AM, Mokiguy said:

I just thought I'd share what was rattling around my head this morning.

It seems to me that grading is more complicated than it needs to be. Like attorneys (and don't get me going there) have all their Latin terms and procedures ....... why. Why in 2023 are we using Latin language  ...... corpus delicti, de facto, habeas corpus, mea culpa, pro bono ............... why? Is it to keep the law mysterious so that a person must go bankrupt in his/her defense because they can't play the Latin Game?

So what about grading comics? Must it be "mysterious"? Couldn't there be a grading scale that anyone could use? A tick is worth one point, a quarter size stain 10 points, a detached centerfold 10 points, two pages detached 20 points, a quarter inch tear 2 points, two quarter inch tears 4 points, half inch tear 5 points, etc.? When you are all done you add up the points and there's your grade. I get it, people say it's the combined plusses and minuses that make the final grade ........ but why, that's the point? I imagine that keeping it mysterious is sort of like using Latin terms in the law ............... if it was all in plain English, we wouldn't need high priced attorneys, and if it was less mysterious we wouldn't need TPG services.

Well that's what was up in that foolish brain of mine this morning, and now that I've emptied it out I can go on with my day!

Grading is an art, not an exact science. People have tried making systems like what you suggest before and some are pretty good, but none are perfect.

Also, we don't need TPGs for grading. Maybe some people do, but I sure don't.

[The Lions Den]

On 6/4/2023 at 10:04 AM, Mokiguy said:

I just thought I'd share what was rattling around my head this morning.

It seems to me that grading is more complicated than it needs to be. Like attorneys (and don't get me going there) have all their Latin terms and procedures ....... why. Why in 2023 are we using Latin language  ...... corpus delicti, de facto, habeas corpus, mea culpa, pro bono ............... why? Is it to keep the law mysterious so that a person must go bankrupt in his/her defense because they can't play the Latin Game?

So what about grading comics? Must it be "mysterious"? Couldn't there be a grading scale that anyone could use? A tick is worth one point, a quarter size stain 10 points, a detached centerfold 10 points, two pages detached 20 points, a quarter inch tear 2 points, two quarter inch tears 4 points, half inch tear 5 points, etc.? When you are all done you add up the points and there's your grade. I get it, people say it's the combined plusses and minuses that make the final grade ........ but why, that's the point? I imagine that keeping it mysterious is sort of like using Latin terms in the law ............... if it was all in plain English, we wouldn't need high priced attorneys, and if it was less mysterious we wouldn't need TPG services.

Well that's what was up in that foolish brain of mine this morning, and now that I've emptied it out I can go on with my day!

As I recall, at the very beginning CGC reportedly consulted several reliable sources to help establish a grading system that would be universally accepted by both dealers and collectors.

Please bear in mind that this system is only as "mysterious" as the grader who uses it...    

[theCapraAegagrus]

Grading's subjectivity is why "grading via AI" will be fairly useless.