Posted By:
davidcyclebackThe key word relatied to restoration is and always will be 'disclosure.' Mastro
has disclosed the restoration, which is what they should do. If a buyer
gets the card slabbed other than AUTH and tries to resell it without disclosing the
restoration, most judges would classify that as fraud. If restoration and
lack of disclosure becomes widespread in the hobby, that only means there is
widespread fraud-- not that lack of disclosure has become acceptable.
99 percent of the time, the mere act of attempting to get a known altered card
graded as unaltered ('seeing if the grader notices') can be classified as the
start of fraud. There are collectors who honestly just want a never-for-resale
novelty grade or who are sincerely testing the graders for an Old Cardboard
article, but these fall within the 1 percent.