That most ALL slabbers are after. That is why they have any common item slabbed. JUST IN HOPES TO GET THAT ALL ELUSSIVE MINT GEM 10!. That's what I found when I went to a recent baseball card show I was able to purchase all of the Mint 9 cards I wanted for $2 each.

Why else would two essentially identical slabbed items have such a WIDE spread in price when they are only ONE GRADE POINT DIFFERENCE between them. And the common unslabbed item is lucky to get a few dollars irregardless of how immaculate it looks to the one viewing it.

And for that matter since we have two different slabbing companies wanting to slab our chips and tokens, there can be BIG PRICE DIFFERENCES for the exact same graded condition between the two companies.

It won't be long before these examples disappear from E-bay but you might want to take a look.

Is one grading companies opinion worth so much more than anothers? After all both are OPINIONS!

Two baseball cards graded MINT GEM 10 by two different grading companies.

This one graded by AGS currently didn't sale with a BUY NOW bid at $185.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1123408355

This one graded by PSA which has 19 bids and sold for a bid of $1,673.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1121624256

A recent PSA (the perfered company) MINT 9 of the same card sold for $41.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1121949270

An interesting ONE GRADE price range difference to say the least!

My guess is that this is exactly what the casino chip/tokens pro-slabbing people are hoping will come to our hobby.

WHAT A VERY SAD DAY FOR OUR HOBBY

NOW BEFORE we make a bold statement that PCGS is better at grading than ICG or vice versa, let me propose this scenario which I have copied from my message on the slabfree.com message baord.

This BIG difference in price between SAME GRADE and DIFFERENT COMPANIES is bewildering to say the least.

IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! *** TO ME ***

(Let me pose this scenario here)

Let us say that JOHN DOE graded the PSA card I mentioned in my previous message back in 1998. Then because of a major illness to himself or a family member, he quit working for PSA. Now, after the emergency is over JOHN DOE goes back looking for work and PSA isn't hiring. So JOHN DOE goes to AGS and is hired immediately due to his background as a grader with PSA. Now JOHN DOE sees this new card (I mention in the previous message) in 2000 and gives it a MINT GEM 10!

SO WHY IS THERE SUCH AN ENORMOUS DIFFERENCE IN PRICE IF THE GRADER IS THE EXACT SAME PERSON??????

Does this message make any sense as to being another reason "WHY SLABBING ISN'T NEEDED IN OUR HOBBY?"