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Posted By: Bruce Moreland

There are a few problems with slabbing altered material.

If grades are assigned, and a note is made that the card is altered, it is possible that demand for altered material could increase, which would increase supply. If a certified altered 9 were ever valued higher than a certified 6, people would play that game. Certifying altered cards legitimizes them, and at that point it becomes acceptable to create them, so we get more of this nonsense.

If altered cards are slabbed but no grade is assigned, it would be nice to think that the stuff would stay in the slabs, but it's possible that demand for this material could be from those who are going to break it out. So I am afraid that in this case, slabbing altered cards would increase the rate at which they circulate.

bruce