Kurt's Card Care Response From Viewer

On Sunday’s video I covered the Kurt’s Card Care drama that transpired last week while I was away on vacation:

A viewer emailed me after with some really good, thought-provoking points. I’m going to copy and paste it here in its entirety:

1. In your Sunday video you asked why PSA deactivated Kurt's recent submission, if they were unable to detect it when they graded the cards.  This is similar to if Barry Bonds, while passing drug tests, came out and admitted in public that he was doing PEDs.  The league would have to suspend him, even if they did not have evidence in a test.  The confession supersedes that.  Kurt essentially is confessing/bragging that he is doing these alterations which are clearly banned by PSA (and SGC).  He blocks the cert number because he knows what he is doing is wrong.  Otherwise he would show the returned card cert, and try to sell you the card in his video.  (Why doesn't he sell these cards himself to his large audience?  Because he knows people do not actually want to own 'cleaned' cards.)

2. The poll from Card Purchaser showing how 'accepting' people are of card cleaning is misleading.  The reality is this: people want to clean cards and send them to PSA, AND get a grade bump, and then sell them for a profit.  That's it.  There is likely not one single collector in the hobby--not one--who uses Kurt's Card Care on their own personal collection items, submits them to grading, then holds them as PC items.  The people who say that they want to allow this are basically wanting to get away with using it themselves.  They do NOT want to own cards that have been 'cleaned'.  They want to clean their 1s and make them 3s, or clean their 4s and make them 7s, then sell for a profit.  That's it.  I would challenge Kurt or anyone who does cleaning to present to us one single collector who uses their product, then grades the cards, then holds them in their PC.  I am not exaggerating when I say it is likely zero people total.

3. This brings up the other issue: why do these cards have to be in PSA/SGC holders?  Think about the argument that Kurt and similar companies are making: they claim this is "restoring" the card.  If that is the case, why do they need to be slabbed?  The entire goal of slabbing the 'restored' card is to allow it to be sold for a profit, and laundered into the hobby.  

Again, I would challenge Kurt and friends to find one collector who uses their product and keeps the items raw.  Nobody does this!  People clean cards, send to PSA as quick as they can, and sell as quick as they can.  'Collectors' do not want these!  If a collector wanted to spend the money on a 1953 Jackie in a PSA 2.5, they do NOT want one that was a PSA 1 with tape on it 2 months ago.  The card is 70 years old, and it is what it is: a 1 with tape on it, the tape itself was probably affixed for 70 years.  The people upset that PSA might not allow this should ask themselves why they so desperately need this in a graded slab instead of a one-touch.  Clearly the reason is: they want to flip the card for max profit.

4. I am also annoyed with the Kurt fans saying this is like restoring 'art'.  Do people put 'art' in giant plastic cases with barcodes and QR codes on them?  Again, if there is one collector who has cleaned his personal collection and is displaying them raw, I would be shocked.  'Cleaning' is purely a way to boost the grades of cards so they can be re-sold for more.  It is functionally the same as trimming.   

Feel free to respond in the comments section.

JWH Newsletter Expansion

I’ve been teasing a big newsletter project for a couple of weeks now, and now I’m ready to go so far as to say that it will be a newsletter expansion. I find that I still have so many things I want to share, and more time for newsletters than YouTube. Part of this expansion is a weekly feature where I rank grail cards of GOATs. More on that in next Monday’s newsletter, hopefully.

I’ve already had three hobby companies reach out and ask to sponsor my newsletter, so I know I could easily do that to sustain it. But I’d actually prefer to offer it as premium content. I pay for several baseball and basketball newsletters (most are also through Beehiiv, like this one), and it’s a great way to get access to good content from writers you like.

To be clear, the Monday weekly roundup will remain free.

But let me make this modest proposal: I would ask for a measly $4 per month for premium newsletter content. With it comes this:

• Monthly giveaway(s), growing in size with my premium subscriber base

• No sponsored posts in premium content

• Access to all of my newsletters, including the Monday free edition and the weekly GOAT write-up, which will last at least a year

• Minimum of one premium newsletter per week, or four per month

  • More likely closer to an average of two extra editions per week

• Vote for what I buy with my monthly hobby budget

• I’m open to other ideas

So what do you think?

My goal is to get 50 of you to sign up when I roll it out in the next couple of weeks. I hope you’ll join me for the ride.

Update On Newsletter Giveaway

Don’t forget, next Monday I announce the winner of the 1940 Play Ball giveaway! It will go to one of you if you’re still subscribed here. I’ll announce it in the Monday newsletter, and maybe in a video too. Good luck!

Fred Lynn, Hobby Hero?

Fred Lynn likes to tweet out photos of cards he’s signing for Fanatics. It gives us a preview of the cards, and it’s often the first time I’ve seen them. Here is Stadium Club, zoomed in by Mario:

And here is Heritage:

And not from Fred Lynn, but here is a look at the new Topps Chrome Black Depths of Darkness:

Whyyyyyy

While researching PSA 9 Mike Trout rookies, I noticed that a PSA 6 recently sold for $369, just $80 shy of a PSA 9. I get it, if $369 is all you can afford. But a 6 in February was around 40% cheaper! Seems like a bad buy now.

YouTube Comment Of The Week

I named my YouTube channel “Junk Wax Hero” after the Foreigner song “Juke Box Hero.” I didn’t think I’d be on YouTube for long, and I never expected to get 100,000 views a month and want to grow further. I’ve hated it every day since then because I believe it limits my potential audience to people who get the reference (small population) and people who like junk wax cards. I then need to fight for every viewer beyond that.

But then a viewer wrote this song, and suddenly it’s not so bad:

Upcoming Videos

By the time you receive this, I might have a second Clearing The Bases episode up. In it, I showed this tweet and said I’d include it in my newsletter:

I’m also working on a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan video.

And I have a new Attic Find Friday this week!

Saturday I’m going to a big card show in Massachusetts.

My Pickup Of The Week

I’m targeting GOAT rookie cards for the foreseeable future. More on that in my new series, which I’m aiming to start in the next week or two.

Subscriber Pickup Of The Week

I haven’t received any in a couple of weeks.

To nominate your card for next week, reply to this email and include why it should be included and a photo. Please don’t be offended if I don’t reply.

Links: