Here's ALL the EDUCATION I need in slabbing.

I am selling some of my old baseball cards so I can buy more Casino Chips :-) I sold some of the more recent cards (1989-1992) on ebay without any problems. So I decided to sell some of my older more "valuable" cards. This is where I ran into something weird.

One of the few cards that I managed to keep out of my bicycle spokes was a 1972 Topps Nolan Ryan. This card in in PERFECT condition. Four sharp corners, no creases or gum stains, bright colors, no printer bubbles. I measured the sides and it is as close to perfectly centered as my 99¢ plastic ruler can measure. Beckett's guide shows the card for between $90.00 and $150.00. I put it on ebay along with a scan (a good quality scan) for $100.00, and waited for the bids to come rolling in...

Nothing. No bids in 7 days. In the meantime a PSA Graded 6 of the same card sold for $30.00. So I put it up again this time at $90.00...

Nothing, no bids.

Perplexed, I take the card to a baseball card show, which I haven't been to since 1993 or 94. I find a table with a guy who has a lot of older baseball cards and ask him if he wants to buy it. He say's "Nice card, why don't you get it graded?"

I said "Why? You just said it's a nice card?"

He said, and I quote "Yeah, but what you think and what I think may be different then what PSA thinks."

So I said "we both just agreed that it's a nice card can't we come up with a price?"

He tells me "Well if we agree it's a 8 or 9 and then I send it in to get graded and it comes back as a 7, I'm out $20 or $30."

I said "I don't believe it, nobody can make a move unless PSA tells them to."

Then he said something that I have heard on this board before. He said "Not really, they provide and unbiased opinion that has been agreed upon within the hobby, it takes the guesswork out of it."

I couldn't believe it, here I had a perfectly good baseball card that has been rendered worthless until PSA tells me what it's worth.

I bid him good day, and went to some other tables. I eventually found a guy to buy the card for $80.00, $10.00 below the low Beckett price. But I didn't mind, the fellow was a friendly dealer and we talked a bit about the "good old days" as much as I could keep up with him (I'm 34 yrs old, he was about 60).

I quickly came home and converted the $80.00 into a 1966 Caesars Palace LV 50¢ chip that for here till I part with it, shall be know as the Nolan Ryan chip.

I have talked to a few others about this episode and they have offered some reasons of why I may have had the problems. I was selling the card in winter, a off time for baseball cards, on ebay I had no other cards for sale and maybe was not trusted. All may be true, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. And since this little "education" in slabbing I need NO seminars to convince me it is OK for me or any hobbies I am involved with.

I'm not so upset with the money or value of the card as I am that this grading has rendered some people unable to make a decision for themselves. They refuse to make an offer because some company has not yet told them how much this item should cost, therefor they will pass.

I will NOT attend the slabbing seminar, I'll be too busy meeting some of the wonderful people I have met buying chips through ebay!

P.S. I have this 1975 Ryan I'm looking to convert into a 1988 Dunes $1.00 Camel, Sultan, Harem Girl chip, any takers :-)

Todd Barrett #5068 - and damn proud of it!