For 4 decades now collecting sports cards and autographs has been a passion.  A hobby.  Both the passion and the hobby are more important than the "business".  Before top loaders, grading services and the presence of internet auctions and sales existed, respect for the game, collections and players existed. Our father use to ride his bicycle with us to the local 7=11 gas station where we began breaking open Topps wax packs of baseball cards looking for Rose, Bench, Sabo, Davis, Larkin and many others.  This is now something that we are able to pass down to our sons as well. 

As the hobby changes those that are passionate about it seem to change with it.  Learning and studying the art of grading cards is one of those changes.  For the past 7+ years this has been a passion of ours as well.  To send cards to be graded while "pre grading" them before mailing them so we can compare the grade assigned to what we thought, or hoped, it would grade at. Submitting cards to several reputable (and now quite expensive) companies became common.  As time went on the accuracy of the pre-grade became spot on and across the spectrum of the different "elite" grading companies. We spent time on each and every card and we continue to, and will. 

Every business starts somewhere.  These large grading companies started somewhere and now their pricing and wait times have made it very difficult for the common collector to stay in the hobby.  To charge $100+ for a single card to be graded, and to have wait times of a year or more, we feel is absolutely ridiculous.  But, to each their own.   No matter how good of a job you try to do, and no matter how great of a job you actually do, there will always be someone critical of you, your experience, and so on.  We understand that.  If you feel our experience and services meet the pricing and expectations for your card(s) and collection, we welcome your business.  If not, we wish you the best anyhow and hope you continue to enjoy the hobby.  We hope you find our pricing and grading fair, honest, and a turn around time that simply makes sense.  Any card "graded" is simply slabbed and better protected moving forward.  We feel this is a service that should not cost over $20 and will help preserve the hobby for you. 

In closing allow us to finish up the story related to the Rose image above.  When deciding to open up our card shop in Sebring we shared this information with our father.  He is now 82 years old and like many his age has memory challenges.  He lit up just like he did when sitting in the hot, Florida sun at a Reds spring training game.  Later on that week he went home and found this Pete Rose, 1987 Fleer card in a drawer and smiled just as big when handing it to us for our store.  So, this image reflects the beginning of our love for this hobby, and the tail end of it with him. 

This is our story and we hope one day we can hear about yours. 

Chad