I just called PSA with this question but they were completely useless.
I'm looking at a card in a PSA holder that says "Authentic Altered." I'm trying to determine if the alteration is trimming. I have seen some trimmed cards in PSA holders that say "Authentic Trimmed," and so I thought maybe an "Altered" designation meant that the alteration was something other than trimming. However, there are other PSA cards that are clearly trimmed, where the "Authentic Altered" designation is used, instead of "Authentic Trimmed." Here are examples of two trimmed cards in the two different types of slabs (not my cards):
What determines whether a trimmed card ends up slabbed "Authentic Trimmed" or "Authentic Altered?" I'm guessing that the "trimmed" designation is an old style that is not used anymore, and now all types of alterations, including trimmed cards, end up with the "altered" designation. If that's true, then it means a card labeled "Authentic Altered" might be recolored/etc, but it also could be trimmed only, with no other alterations. Is that correct? Thanks all.