Before they come to auction I think down the road the very expensive cards will be more closely and seriously examined for alterations, likely by a new service, and the provenance of high end cards will be taken more seriously. Cetainly, for a $100,000, or even $40,000 card, this would be quite reasonable, and, perhaps some day, the norm.
Interestingly, with the T206 Honus Wagner sales, the provenance (history) is usually pretty prominent in the description.
I suspect things will change, at least for the extremely expensive cards.
Duly note that with art and artifacts, there are scientific devices (call them 'ultra advanced blacklights') that are used to test the molecular structure and can identify all the chemicals and compounds. They are so advanced that not only can they identify a real diamond, they can tell you, by the molecular tests, where in the world they originated.
I write for the SABR baseball card committee, and it could all start with a serious article on the topic at SABR.
Last edited by drcy; 05-15-2019 at 12:10 PM.
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