Detecting Trimmed Cards
 

I have a nice loop that I recently bought allowing me to get better at examining the authenticity of vintage cards. What I need help is what type of recommended instrument is need to turn a card on its side and look at if a card was trimmed or say different on one particular side. I feel like folks at PSA for example use something more powerful than a nice loop but I'm not quite sure what. Thanks all. Ted

Small t-square or right angle ruler.. find in art supply stores..

A UV Led Light too

A card can be the correct size and still be trimmed. Back in the '90's, there used to be several fairly well-known dealers whose specialties were putting somewhat worn but uncreased cards through a paper press, making them a bit larger, then cutting them back down to size, leaving them with sharp corners. In essence, selling EX cards as NrMt-MT. This scam pretty much ended when PSA gained wide-spread acceptance, and it became known by educated collectors and dealers buying raw cards to check the edges with a loupe. Original Topps cards (and I believe the majority of other vintage cards) will have rather rough edges, while one made to appear high-grade by the above method will have razor sharp edges. Many of us learned the hard way by having cards that appeared to at least be "8's" returned ungraded and tagged as "trimmed."

Also beware of raw cards with sharp corners that have a "pinched" appearance at the corners under magnification. They result from the same process, but with only a portion of the card being put through the press to enlarge it before subsequently being cut back down. If you are going to be buying raw cards, buy some cheap commons first and examine the edges with a loupe first to see what they should look like in untampered-with form.

Happy collecting,

Larry

Ted, the tools already mentioned will all be invaluable in helping you determine if a card has been altered (not just trimmed), but nothing is going to help you more than just handling the cards you want to collect, and looking at them up close.

Say, for example, that you wanted to buy a T206 Christy Mathewson portrait in very good condition. You're at a vintage card show, and you find a nice example with brilliant color, good centering, and nice clean edges. You want to know if they've been trimmed at all. You really want to have done your "homework" before ever going to that show. Start out buying commons from the set. Ungraded ones. Pull out your loupe, and look at them up close. Feel them in your hands. Smell them. Observe what natural wear over time looks like. Get a really poor T206 common. Take your ruler (I have used a metal drafting ruler), and an x-acto knife, and cut a new edge. Look up close at that edge under magnification. See how it looks, and how it differs from other edges of cards you've bought. When you have examples like these, and have seen them up close, and under magnification, you're going to be able to identify what a factory cut looks like, and what an unnatural clean edge looks like.

The eye with coin loop x10 holding the card horizontally to check grain. This along with a black piece of cardboard, or white if 71 Topps Baseball is all I use to check for trimming.

How about Recoloration? since we are on the topic. What are some tips to check for.

Darkened environment with a blacklight.

It's just an eyeball method, but I suspect trimming when I see a high-grade card swimming around in its holder, with huge gaps between the card and the inner holder ridges.

I was pretty amazed when I looked at some high grade 51B Mantles and compared them to a lower grade example in hand— let's just say the lower grade filled the holder, and the higher grades not so much.

Absolutely right on!

Best of luck in your pursuits,

Larry

What I've found surprising is that the bevel/flange edge quality of a genuine factory cut on T206s (and others) survives even if a card has taken a massive amount of damage. Even on a couple cards I have that might only get an A because of condition it's there.

Blacklight can help bring out coloration differences even if the area afflicted doesn't floresce. At least it shows different colors when I do it. And the times I have had cards come back recolored, upon second look, they always have been. As for detecting trimming. I think it's an art. Also if you look at enough lower end and well worn cards you can see patterns. My recent loupe acquisition helped a lot. Good luck.

I would ask my fellow pre-war collectors about chemical alteration to a card. Knowing what a hundred year old card should smell like, does something like bleaching, or coloring, leave perceptible changes to that natural scent (assuming that a card hasn't also been soaked)?

It makes me ill that we have to have these kinds of discussions. :mad:

Did you find some trimmed/altered cards in your collection, Leon? If so, hopefully not one of your favorites. Then again, if you're like me they're all your favorites.

For me it probably wouldn't make much difference. But I don't have a good sense of smell.

That being said, nearly every thing that was done during manufacturing leaves a clue to itself, and nearly everything that can be done after will as well. It's just a matter of having the resources to detect it.

I learned an interesting non-card one recently that may apply to cards. I was looking at stamps with a club member who is really into German stamps. He remarked that one on my collection looked like the more valuable shade. I was pretty happy to note that it also had never been hinged. After a quick look he pointed out the cracking of the gum, which made a sort of ring around an oval embossed area. Which is apparently a very good sign as the embossing stressed the gum so original gum would crack exactly that way. (The surface of many T206s shows the same sort of cracking under lots of magnification, just not in a pattern since they're not embossed. -- Or does it? I still haven't checked if it conforms to the bevel on the front of a factory cut, which might indicate the difference between an original or very old cut, and one done recently. It's not quite the same, as it's the cardstocks surfacing that can crack, but it might behave similarly. )

For the curious,
1872 1/2 gr gold green hinged 45 not hinged 145
dk greenish olive hinged 170 not hinged 600
:D