How long have cards been trimmed?
I was just looking at a 1933 Tattoo Orbit card I have of Lefty Grove. It's graded "A" and it's from the Lionel Carter collection. It's clearly trimmed ...
According to his biography, Lionel started collecting in 1933 in Illinois. The first pack he bought contained 1933 Delongs. So the way I figure it, as devoted as he soon became to collecting, he probably finished the 1933 Tattoo Orbit set early on, especially since its distribution seemed to be focused in the Midwest. So what was Lionel doing with a trimmed card? I'm sure he could have acquired it late in life, but just as likely, it was in his collection for many decades ...
It's hard for me to imagine that trimmed cards existed even in the 1970s since there was hardly anybody I recall from that era that really cared about perfectly sharp corners. Any thoughts? Are trimmed cards a product of the slabbed card era? Or have dealers and collectors always sought to "improve" cards?
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