PSA holder tampering?
 

Admittedly I don't know a lot about PSA or SGC holders, I almost exclusively use BVG. However I do know enough to be pretty sure these holders have been tampered with. But to be sure I'd like some input from some of you guys. Thanks in advance for the help!

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The frosting along the edges of the Mantle and JRobby would absolutely be a concern for me. Not sure if it would be worth anyone's time to tamper with an EX+ 68 Seaver though.

I've received slabs from SGC directly like the Seaver.

Hi Trey,

It's a little hard for me to tell from the pictures. Is what I'm seeing all the way across the top of the Robinson and Mantle frosting, or is it partial reflection? An unfortunate side effect of the sonic welding process is that the very process that creates the seam also creates some minor frosting.

When I have questions about the slab being tampered with, I look at the cards themselves carefully with a loupe (comparing to a real card from the same set if possible, also under magnification). In your opinion, does the Robinson look like a 5? Under magnification, is the printing process looking right? With a 5 there should be some corner wear. Compare the stock to your control card. If you have a scanner, scan the Robinson at higher DPI, and the card you're comparing it to. Blown up, do they look the same?

Then go back to the slab. With PSA slabs (and I'd assume SGC, too), there should be a rigidity to them. Does the slab at all bend when you grab the top by the flip, and at the bottom, or is it stiff?

I can't wait for the new PSA holder to come out. A lot of these issues will be solved, as trying to pop a card will pretty much require destroying the original case.

If you can shoot those pics again with a solid black background, I can look again.

Agreed. However, I think the same thing could be said about the Robinson too. What's a 5 worth on that card? 120?

The cards all look accurately graded to me. It's kind of hard to tell if the cases have been tampered with from the angle of the pictures. Scans would have been better.

I think all 3 are okay.

They look good to me. Since you posed the question, why do you believe the holders have been tampered with?

Those holders look fine to me; patches of frosting or cloudiness are absolutely normal and come right off the press like that. A frosted holder with clear tampering would be frosted across an entire edge, or much of it.

Here is an article that contains information about what an opened PSA case may appear as(take a look at the 54 Aaron mentioned in the article):

http://bbcemporium.com/california-craigs-list-psa-scam/

Thank you. Great read.

My concern was the frosting on the edges of the holder. Was not aware that patches of frosting are normal though, so if that's the case I feel much better about these cards. The grades seemed accurate and in some cases tampering seemed hardly profitable, but I'd always heard that frosting was a sure sign of tampering. Thanks for the insight guys!

And yes, when they finally have new holders I will probably branch out from BVG and try PSA.

SGC is coming out with a new holder too.

Cool, good to know! Thanks for the heads up Brent.