What a brilliant post, completely "on topic" and of vital interest to everyone who collects movie posters, asking insightful questions that have never really been answered.
Therefore, I expect zero replies to the group (but likely a flurry of off-group personal comments). On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:29 PM, Tommy Barr <tommymb...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am using Heritage as an example, but I hope nobody uses that as an > excuse for sniping, as I think we all suffer from a mote in the eye here. > In a recent auction HA had this poster - > http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161410&lotNo=52344. > > I noticed it was the same poster as previously sold by them - > http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161253&lotNo=50302. > > The only difference was that the grading had moved from 'fine' to 'fine+'. > I contacted HA to enquire about that and received a reply from Grey Smith. 'If > items are reconsigned with us, we have a team grading and evaluating each > lot for condition ignorant of its previous sale. Naturally, grading will > always be subjective to a degree.' I replied that while I accepted > grading as subjective I did not think it unreasonable to expect > consistency from the same source, and it would appear that the present team > is more lenient in its appraisal than that of the recent past, as is > evidenced by yet another poster previously rated 'fine-' which has now been > promoted to 'fine'. > http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161410&lotNo=52506 > > http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161246&lotNo=53484 > > I received no reply to that. > > Now I appreciate that we are dealing with quite fine distinctions here, > but grading is important. Having large images to view is all very well, but > it does not show everything. Wrinkles do not always show well, and there > are no images of the back of the poster so the amount of tape or writing > there relies on description. > > The main problem I find, though, is one of comparison. Is HA's 'fine' the > equivalent of EMP's 'good' (and surely 'good' meaning 'not very good' is > one of the worst anachronisms)? HA does at least assign a numerical value > to the rating, and other sites such as MoviePosterBid and > MoviePosterExchange do use numbered grading, but there still often appears > to be some difference in values as, for example, MPX seem to be very > critical and often have posters as low as 2 or 3 which I expect others > might have as a 4 or 5. The majority of eBay sellers are quite happy to > describe their wares as 'excellent', and major auction houses such as > Christie's simply have an A,B,C rating system. > > I like the iguide.net numerical system, and should something like that > not now be accepted as an approved standard? CGC and third party grading > would seem to have limited appeal, but there is no reason why a unified > system cannot be applied. It is surely long overdue, as Alan Adler's post > of Jan 2006 demonstrates - > > A unified grading system would be fantastic. > > It will happen - just a question of when. > > Look to Overstreet's comic guide and the pages on grading comics and > > find a useful and well-organized list of criteria that has worked well for > the comic world. > > Overstreet even has a book out devoted only to grading of comics. > > It has photos of every grade - using a number scale - 1-100 I think -but > could be wrong. > > Check it out at the bookstore or library. > > There is no reason this can not be accomplished for movie posters - > > Even though there are a number of sizes - the same rules set forward for > grading movie paper can work for all with minor notations. > > > > Eight years later but still it hasn't happened, but the idea must be > appealing. At least we would then be able to view and compare posters based > on mutual assumptions, and also be able to compare the rigour of the > dealers in their appraisals. > > > > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ How > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: > lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF > MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 29 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. 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