How About a "Second Opinion" by Graders?

scottsusor

The thread about "Grader's Notes" got me thinking (yeh, I know that's usually a bad thing). Has anybody ever asked Joe, or any of the graders at a show, about "second opinions?" What I mean is -- Does a card ever get a "second opinion" before being slabbed? Or is every card submitted graded only by a single grader, then slabbed?

Obviously it would not be cost effective to have every card subject to this -- only cards where Grader #1 is "in doubt" as to whether his/her initial determination is "in between" say a 7 and an 8 (the good old 7.5 argument again, or 8.5 between an 8 and a 9). It just seems to me that with no half-grades, that this type of thing would make sense. Oops, there I go making sense again, sorry.

Comments?

Scott

CON40

Scott;

I can't confirm this myself, but I was told that PSA grades in teams of three... first two graders look at a card and assign a grade. If their grades match, that is the grade the card will receive. If their grades are different, then the third grader becomes the "tie breaker", and that grade is assigned. I always thought this made sense, if it is indeed true.

Can anyone else out there confirm this method of grading?

Keith

mikeschmidt

For modern cards, I was told explicitly by a high-level PSA official that cards were graded by one grader, encapsulated, and, only after encapsulation, did the card go through a review process. Supposedly, if there was a disagreement, the card was removed each and every time.


However - as a former fraud investigator and internal controls consultant - I can tell you from a cost perspective the adverse outcomes that result in the above from a disagreement with the first grader....

BugOnTheRug

<< <i>For modern cards, I was told explicitly by a high-level PSA official that cards were graded by one grader, encapsulated, and, only after encapsulation, did the card go through a review process. Supposedly, if there was a disagreement, the card was removed each and every time. >>



hummmmmm.................a review process while slabbed. So, how much can really be reviewed in slab form? It must only be for the most obvious of mistakes or slips.

hummmmmm.................

BOTR

CON40

<< For modern cards, I was told explicitly by a high-level PSA official that cards were graded by one grader, encapsulated, and, only after encapsulation, did the card go through a review process. Supposedly, if there was a disagreement, the card was removed each and every time. >>

I'm not sure about this... aren't the cards slabbed in a separate process by a different group (within the building)? If this is true, why aren't trimmed or size requirement cards sent back in slabs? Wouldn't they be slabbed at PSA prior to a review just like "normal" cards?