Why the PSA Registry was created

homerunhall

Hi Everyone...

Just for the record...

I believe it was in 1996...Marshall Fogel, Charlie Merkle and I were at Marshall's house in Denver, dividing up the hundreds of 52 Topps we had bought out of Rob Lifson's auction of the Ed Wormser 52 Topps set.
I was looking for a way to compare my 52 Topps set to Marshall's, Charlie's, and Wormser's. That's when I came up with the Set Registry idea (which we actually launched for rare coins first.)

Granted, the Registry certainly has stimulated lots of submissions for PSA, and we of course run Registry based grading "specials" to encourage even more submissions. But the Set Registry wasn't an evil scheme to get people to grade commons or get the Collectors Universe stock price up. The Set Registry was invented by a collector (me) as a way to compare sets.

Marshall has been encouraging me to tell the full story of how the Set Registry came to be. If you guys want me to do it, I'll post the rather lengthy story later this week.

David Hall

PS...Many of you know that I sold my entire collection in 1997. It broke my heart (and I left a lot of money on the table considering what happened to prices afterwards), but some vocal hobby people were voicing concerns about me being a collector and also owning PSA. It was the right thing to do.

PPS...Thanks for all the nice things you said about PSA in your responses to the excellent thread about the tragi-comic Lemke article .

SayitaintsoJoe63

David......Good to hear from you, and would love for you to share the story about the Registry with us.

John

zardoz51

David

I think that you will find that the majority of the boardmembers would enjoy the history in regard to the "birth of the registry".

"tragi-comic"..........good one!

MrKissKissBangBang

COUNT ME IN! PLEASE DO TELL!

Buckwheat

Do tell, Do tell!

thegemmintman

David, it's great to hear from you.



<< <i>the full story of how the Set Registry came to be >>



Yes, absolutely, tell us more. The Set Registry has forever changed the hobby in a positive way.

gemint

I would also be interested in reading more about the set registry. I don't recall when CU went public but if it was after 1996, that would poke another hole in the already weak and bitter story from Lemke.

Incidentally, I was already buying PSA 8 commons from 1969-74 before post 1955 sets were added to the registry. At the time I didn't plan on grading out my entire sets but I did want to be able to upgrade <NM-MT cards without having to scour dealer inventory. It was a convenient way to get truly NM-MT cards over eBay without having to worry about overgrades. I think even set builders with no intentions of grading their collections can benefit from graded commons.

I look forward to your article.

RobE

Thanks for the ability to create, enable and impliment the concept.For me, it's been a whole new direction for collecting.

Looking forward to reading this story.Sounds long and "book" worthy. Don't spare any details.

qualitycards

DAVID - Please at your leisure inform us of any stories you have on the registry, collecting or graded cards in general, we would all appreciate it....jay

LloydsBaseballCards

tell us the story, we have lots of time!!!

2323

The set registry is a great idea. I never thought much about it until one day I was bored and started entering my Jordan cards in it. I was hooked. Now all I want to do is buy and grade more cards to put in the registry. It's also nice to be able to prove to someone that you do have a certain card. And competing with others for the best collection is a blast.

homerunhall

I'll put together the detailed story of the Set Registry's birth and post it no later than next weekend.

gemint...CU went public in December, 1999.

David

mikeschmidt

David:

Thank you for the opportunity -- we all look forward to hearing the story.

Cheers,
Marc

FB

David,

I'm sure that if you took a survey of many of the wives/husbands/significant others of the folks on these boards and I think that the consensus WOULD be that it was an evil scheme to separate a bunch of over-aged adolescents from their hard-earned money!

Oh - and thanks!!!!

KING KELLOGG

David...

Prior to PSA Registry, and prior to PSA itself, you were running the show at PCGS. One of your authorized PCGS dealers started submitting high numbers of modern proof coins (mostly Kennedy halfs and SBA dollars). It was about 1987 or so...At a dealers meeting during the Long Beach show. you asked a room full of coin dealers "How can PCGS help you?" ..A voice from the back said.."Mr Hall. How about bulk submissions for modern proof coins?"...The snickering started from the well established Morgan dollar boys, and you calmly said "All submissions are important to us and the coin hobby". "We need to address a market that we know very little about". ........And the snickers stopped....... I believe you saw then , the value of a registry. Modern proof submissions are very much a part of everyday life at PCGS now, and I'm amazed at the number of coin sets (especially proof Kennedy and SBA) that are registered on the PCGS Registry.

My point is, that a common card (or a common coin) might not impress high dollar investors, but a complete set of any collectable turns all heads.

Thank you for your stewardship in the modern world of complete set building. Your forsight led all of to this place called "Registry"

Do you remember me?
Thanks!!!

Larry.