Goudey Ruth graded by Pro

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Posted By: RichMcG

Lots of interesting talk about touching up older cards. Outside of handling the card, would you steer clear of any eBay cards that are not graded or from someone that you do not personally know?

As I quickly looked through eBay, here is a Goudey Ruth graded by Pro?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31721&item=4127522132&rd=1

From the photos is there anyway to tell what has been done to the card if anything (outside of the high grading)?


Rich

[edited to add title]

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Posted By: warshawlaw

you can be fairly certain it is altered. They have graded so much altered crap that you would probably do better to place your money on the longshot in the Derby than on anything they've slabbed, IMHO.

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Posted By: Aaron M.

PRO cards are trimmed or otherwise altered cards. (I can't speak to their ability to authenticate.)

Unlike other, more reputable and marketable grading companies (pretty much limited to PSA, SGC, or GAI) PRO is so desperate for business they do not distinguish if a card has been trimmed from its final grade. PSA and SGC will reject the card outright and not assign it a grade or slab it.

So, if a seller gets an highly-valuable card rejected from a PSA or SGC for having been trimmed he can then submit it to PRO and get a very high grade as though it weren't trimmed (there is no note on the PRO "slab" that would describe it as trimmed either) and then sell it on E-Bay for a good price (considerably less than if it were graded PSA, but considerably more if it were left ungraded and honestly described by the seller as trimmed).

Kind of like how GAI has carved out an unexploited niche for itself by grading and authenticating unopened wax packs, PRO has carved out a niche for itself by grading trimmed or otherwise altered cards without alerting potential buyers. (PRO is hardly alone in this practice--virtually all of these overnight grading services do it, PRO has just become the most reputable and common in unknowing collectors eyes.)

Check out the current Robert Edwards Auction. He's listed a lot of raw, trimmed cards that include two of the '33 Goudey Ruths and one of the '34 Goudey Gehrigs. They all look gorgeous, but are pretty obviously trimmed. Lifson is honestly describing the lot for what it is, but the auction price has already well exceeded his pre-auction estimated value. Why? Most likely because someone is planning on taking advantage of the above scenario: send the cards off to PRO and then sell them for profit on E-Bay to novice or foolish collectors.