Posted By:
T206CollectorI've been saying this for months -- Net54 is an internet watchdog for pre-war cards and SGC does a great job of identifying impermissible alterations.
There is no need for any additional policing.
If you buy raw cards or cards not graded by a third-party grading company with a money-backed guarantee, you will always be assuming risk -- I don't care how many collectors you have as members of an association, or how many dealers or auction houses you sign up for the code of ethics.
By only purchasing cards graded by a third-party grading company with a money-backed guarantee you will lower the value of raw cards, which are at highest risk of alteration. If the only cards with value were those graded by a third-party grading company with a money-backed guarantee, then the card doctors would have less and less incentive to keep working on their cards.
Since we're talking about utopias -- here's mine:
If every pre-war baseball card were to be graded by SGC, with a money-backed guarantee, then there would be virtually no chance that doctored cards are being regularly circulated in the market. In the event someone found one, SGC would take it back at full value, and then slab the card as altered. Eventually, all collectors of pre-war cards would agree that there were no altered cards in the hobby.
But, if you continue to buy raw -- or through companies that do not have money-backed guarantees -- then you perpetuate the alterations and encourage the card doctors.
Period.