My issue with this card is not the alteration or disclosure posted the last day of the auction. It has more to do with the perception that LOTG can do no wrong, yet they don't even follow their own standards.
The following are quotes from their own website:
"Any graded card valued over $500 will be reviewed carefully by LOTG under magnification, along with halogen and long-wave ultraviolet lighting. Should we discover any issues with which we are uncomfortable, the card will be resubmitted to the grading company for review or returned to the consignor at their request."
"Should any hobbyist discover compelling evidence that a card in our auction has been altered, we will withdraw the card immediately."
Clearly neither of these happened. The E95 was not carefully reviewed, nor was it pulled when the alteration was discovered. Again these are not my standards. These are pledges made by a company claiming to be above all of this.
The following is a quote from the disclosure added to the Cobb:
"While our policy is to withdraw items that are discovered to be altered, in this case we believe the alteration is visible enough that it is debatable whether or not it was done deceptively. "
In my opinion, this reads like they are justifying violating their own policy my making up some new standard that judges the intent of whoever altered this card. If I misread that, please let me know how it's supposed to read.
If none of you have a problem with any of this so be it.
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Successful transactions with peter spaeth, don's cards, vwtdi, wolf441, 111gecko, Clydewally, Jim, SPMIDD, MattyC, jmb, botn, E107collector, begsu1013, and a few others.
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