Toy Graders – A question

[Rich200]

Whilst I don't personally feel the need to obtain AFA or UKG graded items or use their services the whole process does interest me and I can respect this part of the hobby. A question I have had is, who works for these companies? Given the vast knowledge these people must need, it surprises me that they are not more visible in the community. That said l am relatively new to the community so they may be visible and I am just not aware of it. The reason I expect they are not visible is to save the hassle of being harassed by people who have a negative view of the process or their past grading decisions.

Not looking to start a debate on the merits of grading just interested to hear about who the graders are. Cheers, Richard.

 

[maxf]

If I was setting up a grading company I'd try to get people who didn't have any interest in the hobby - you'd don't want every Dengar getting a higher grade as that's the graders favourite figure, just people who can apply a consistent set of rules to $10 to $1000 items. You only need 1 or 2 experts who can authenticate the mega rare stuff.

Maybe that's what they actual do, hence no presence?

 

[edd_jedi]

I know from dealing with UKG in the past they do use well known and very experienced collectors as graders, but for obvious reasons their identity is kept secret, as is I believe the owner of the piece. Imagine what a **** storm it would be if friends were grading each others stuff, there is already speculation that Brians Toys gets preferential treatment from AFA (I've seen examples to back this up.)

 

[wrighty]

Never knew that. I thought Steve was a one man grading team!! :shock:

 

[Rich200]

Interesting, thanks for the replies. Being anonymous makes sense but as has been suggested does leave the door open to insider trading so to speak.

Hopefully the approach suggested by Maxf is what actually happens.

 

[Lindo]

I saw 2 carded figures for sale both had grades of 80 card 85 bubble and 90 figure, yet the overall grade for 1 was 80 and the other was 85, now how the fook does that work???

 

[chipsteak]

I would like to know what would constitute a 100 percent figure. What's 20% wrong with a lot of those mint figures?

 

[palitoyjunky]

There is really no magic to any of this :!: At the end of the day it comes down to an opinion of one person or a small group of people.

Regarding the two MOCs that had the same sub grades but diff overall grades, there could b a number of reasons including the overall look of one could b better than the other-obviously that is an opinion :lol:

 

[PulsarP]

Never knew that. I thought Steve was a one man grading team!! :shock:

He used to be but he has had to employ others due to increased demand and more overseas custom, including from the States.
Didn't AFA cease grading for a while?

 

[weasel]

there is already speculation that Brians Toys gets preferential treatment from AFA (I've seen examples to back this up.)

Having bought a lot of stuff from BT's over the years (way back when) I can definitely see why people think that. I'd be inclined to say it was a fact rather than speculation, but we don't have the proof.

I saw 2 carded figures for sale both had grades of 80 card 85 bubble and 90 figure, yet the overall grade for 1 was 80 and the other was 85, now how the fook does that work???

The joys of grading. It all depends on how bad the grade is. For example something may just scrape an 80 where as something else just misses out on an 85. If they both have two other 85's (for example) then chances are the first one will grade an 80 and the second one an 85. Think of it as the first one scoring 77.5 and the second one 82.49. The first will be rounded up to 80, the second rounded down to 80.

I would like to know what would constitute a 100 percent figure. What's 20% wrong with a lot of those mint figures?

It's pretty much impossible under the 3 tier system they use now. Under the old single tier system, without the sub grades, it was possible. There are/were a few on Ebay for silly silly money, way back before prices exploded. I dare say now they are mega silly money. But you could go back in time to the factory, spend all day picking the most pristine and perfect MOC and give it to AFA and the odds are minute that it would get even a 95.