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Plastic Dog In restrospect, there seems another option. A "0" or "0.5" ("1/2") grade, given to authentic but altered cards. If a card, such as Leon's Matty will grade, then it should be graded if someone (you listening Leon?) wants to have it slabbed. If it won't grade, but is altered, then it should receive a grade below poor (the lowest level of unaltered card).
Leon wants his rare, altered cards graded - he gets an SGC-1/2 (or .5 or even 0 grade), with the grade description written as "Authentic but Altered" or "Authentic but Restored" and maybe SGC could have a specific web page with serial numbers and a more in-depth description of the alteration (or restoration). A forgery still gets nothing. A hand-cut card - like the Ty Cobb Back in the one Mastro auction awhile back - would either be graded on its merits as a pre-production card or graded as "Authentic but Altered" (and the database would reflect "hand-cut"). Not sure where I stand on that one.
Anyway, the bottom line is that this proposal would serve the purpose of:
1. Authenticating every authentic card
2. Any "gradeable" card still gets graded
3. Any altered/restored card is marked as such, and a buyer can check a database to learn the extent of alteration before purchasing the card.
Any major gaps?