Evidence of trimming

[kylebicking]

Does anyone out there know how PSA or SGC determine evidence of trimming? I understand that with some cards it is very obvious they have been altered. But for those with fluctuating dimensions, ie some tobacco cards, how do they tell?

Thanks,
-Kyle

[birdman42]

Kyle,

I had a respected grader tell me my Buchner was trimmed. He said he could tell because the factory trimmers have slight imperfections in the blade that leave telltale marks on the sliced side--and my card didn't have those marks. Kind of easier to show in person, with lots of hand motions and pictures, but after he showed me, I understood what he was saying.

I suppose that more properly it's "lack of evidence of factory cut," which amounts to the same thing.

Bill

[FrankWakefield]

.

[E93]

There is an article in SGC Magazine about how to detect some forms of trimming on T206s and T205s. It came out about a year and a half ago.
JimB

[Rob D.]

Good info, Bill. Thanks very much.

[barrysloate]

The edge of a card will tone over time; if it has been recently trimmed, it will look much fresher than the other edges.

[David W]

I've got a T206 Mullin that I've had for 7-8 years, and the person before me had for probably 30 years. It would grade a 4-5.

I know he didn't trim it, and I know I didn't trim it, but twice PSA has rejected it as trimmed.

So if it was trimmed it was trimmed years ago, which would make no sense since that didn't hardly matter until the last 15 years.

Personally I don't think it has been trimmed.

[Bosox Blair]

So if it was trimmed it was trimmed years ago, which would make no sense since that didn't hardly matter until the last 15 years.

Personally I don't think it has been trimmed.

I understand your frustration, and you might be right.

But...lots of cards were trimmed decades ago. Many times it had nothing to do with value (as we assume), but other reasons valid to that person. Some were trimmed to make a uniform size for all of the old owners cards. I've seen cards that were trimmed by an old owner to ensure they fit in a box he was using to keep them. Sometimes the trim was done carefully by a collector - not to deceive, but because the person cared about the collection in his own way.

Cheers,
Blair

[glynparson]

plus just as a side note trimming for unscrupulous reasons has been going on for a lot longer then 15 years.

[Al C.risafulli]

Glyn is right, of course. There's also the issue with tobacco cards of plastic sheets from the late 70s and early 80s that were slightly too small for some of the oversized T-cards, and thus owners actually trimmed their cards to fit them into the sheets. No deception was involved, but a card that was trimmed for such a reason would likely be rejected as trimmed.

Virtually every type of card, and every manufacturer, is different. Frank is correct in that there are telltale signs along the edge of a card that can help someone identify whether an edge was created with a cutting die, a paper cutter, a hobby knife or some other implement. People who have looked at thousands and thousands of cards learn how the edges of certain issues should appear when they've been cut naturally, and when an edge does not appear the way it should, there's a likelihood that the card has been trimmed.

-Al