"I don't go to bed with no whore, and I don't wake up with no whore. That's how I live with myself. What about you?" -- Carl Fox (Martin Sheen) from the movie Wall Street.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Reminds me of of a joke told to me by an Englishman:

Two men are getting shaves side by side at the barber shop. The barber starts to apply aftershave to one man and the man says "Whew! Don't that on me. My wife will think I went to a brothel!" The other man getting a shave says "You can use it on me. My wife doesn't know what a brothel smells like."

Bleach is easy enough to detect with a black light and a little common sense. I've notices quite a few auctions where their card's borders are a little too clean and crisp. Anyway, Auction Houses have sold stolen, altered and forged material before and only come clean when the get busted.

In Boston the state house has been pilfered several times and in one case, the state's charter was found at auction. In another case, Walter Johnson's Opening Day baseballs signed by presidents were stolen from the Hall and found in a Ron Oscer Auction.

What could cut this in half is if the grading companies took more that 60 seconds to review their items. Grading companies are opinion makers based on what? We don't know who they are or if they have a background in document forensics to adequately determine if what they're handling hasn't been tampered with?

They started adding brightening compounds to bleach in the mid 1950's and this I suspect could dissipate with time but brighteners added to paper stock in the 1940's doesn't. You could do a test and see how long it takes?

As they say, work smarter, not harder for the things that you want. Card collecting is and should be fun but it also requires some research, and if you dont know something, ask questions -there's no such thing as a stupid question. We're all here for the same goals and to help.

Responding to the portion in bold...

They are purely "self-appointed" experts, and have no credentials to speak of (aside from what they claim, in order to garner the most profits). It's a scam that people have mindlessly bought into, hook, line and sinker.

Realizing it is not purposeful to complain without proposing a potential solution...

Perhaps someday there could be an independent agency that would certify Professional Graders after they pass enough seminars, courses or tests to qualify. They would subsequently earn a degree of sorts. An important aspect of this would be to ensure PSA has no involvement in the certification process. Their is ample evidence that they cannot be trusted, and that their intervention would taint the entire process.

So the Certification Entity could not be the PSA School of Authentication (or Beckett or SGC, for that matter).

Would it be profitable, or even a good business venture? Probably not.

Would it benefit the hobby? Definitely

If I ever buy a graded card again I'll first research it to see if PWCC had it in their possession at any point. If so, I'll pass. Reality, though, I may never buy a graded card again and I've been a strong supporter for the past 20 years.

You're not.

I noticed another auction started. While I am still not bidding, naturally I am super curious, on many levels, about what’s in the auction and how it shakes out. Aside from a PSA 7 red Cobb (that’s not a suspect occurrence in a pwcc auction...) and the e105 CY young, which is beast and something I would totally bid on otherwise, I think the pre-1920/pre-war T and E offerings (like the last auction) are fairly weak, compared to prior auctions. I will be tracking this auction with interest.

What do you think of the auction? I think perhaps this whole mess is impacting PWCC as far as the pre-war T, E, and D (“TED”) cards are concerned.

No lawsuits or criminal charges (yet), but us consumers and consignors do have a voice through buying and selling habits/decisions.

One thing I notice is that it’s often only the higher graded, stud HOF cards that get the special PWCC stickers- do we really need a sticker to tell us a 7 has good eye appeal?!?!

Those stickers have shown us over time that they're the best chances to be altered by many of the vintage scam artists revealed in the last six months. Those are Brent's beaconing device to tell you these cards are most likely trimmed/bleached/recolored and soon to be returned for a full refund and upcoming purgatory in an FBI evidence warehouse/vault.

any brown lenoxes in this one?

Thankfully no. As I suspect you know considering your post, a Brown Lenox was the last card I bid on (and won) in a pwcc auction in June - and that would be tough to hold off on. But since that auction, I have chosen not to participate in their auctions.

PWCC: The Fish Stinks From the Head
PSA: Regularly Get Cheated
BGS: Can't detect trimming on modern
SGC: Closed auto authentication business
JSA: Approved same T206 Autos before SGC

--Thanks for the chuckle, John.

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...nza%20clap.gif

That's been my signature block for months now. It's kind of like Congress I guess. Public trust has eroded on the TPGs and auctionhouses exposed, but all the lines of business still run through them.

agree that the selection is relatively weak. I'm interested also to see how prices may be impacted by all the recent states that have sales tax being collected now.

I don’t think the selection is weak. There are a lot of Ruth and Cobb cards in the current auction... like the vgex Maple Crispette Ruth. Or the VGEX Type 2 coupon Cobb. wink wink.

I don't keep up with PWCC as I'm sure someone else will replace them as a PSA outlet for altered cards. Questionable business practices and all the bad press has to catch up with them. So, how is Small Traditions looking as I hear they are gaining in popularity.

There are numerous outlets for altered cards. PWCC is high profile, but all the focus on them (part of which was due to the ability to track before and after scans) should not leave the impression they are unique in this regard.

Current PWCC
 

Poor Jackie...

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showpo...postcount=5573

Ugh...

How many 1948-49 Leafs does that make now? Hate to say it, but I'd be suspicious of any '48-'49 Leaf Cards graded "5" or better.