N300

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Posted By: Judge Dred

The N300 set is a beautiful 19th century issue that has a blank black back and black borders. Unfortunately the black borders must have chipped away relatively easy because many of the N300s either have black missing from the borders or in many cases the black border has been shaded in (color added). If you are an honest ebayer and you are selling an N300 with color added to the border the realized price seems to be a fraction of what it would be if the color was not added to the border.

If you submit (to PSA or SGC) an N300 with color added to the border it will be rejected as altered. Now the question - I've seen GAI encapsulate trimmed cards and assign them with the AUTHENTIC label. If I submit an N300 with color added to the border and have it labeled as AUTHENTIC, does that all of a sudden add some type of legitimacy to the card in which the realized price at auction will exceed what it was when it was not encapsulated? For example, if your favorite card dealer had the card unencapsulated but obviously altered, would you place more value to it if it were encapsulated with the AUTHENTIC label?

See example below - the Clarkson has a little minor alteration (color added to the border). What do you think it's worth in that condition?