Is it safe to buy an altered card ?
 

In this case a SGC 52T Mantle that looks good and slabbed Authentic and altered.
Price of 30k. Is the card authentic ? Seller says SGC said top corner appeared glued. He was going to break it out and send to PSA to try for a grade before all the back up.
Your thoughts please.
Thanks.

Is it dangerous?:confused:

I really don’t understand the question here, nor do I understand why it needs to be sent to PSA. Are you both hoping with enough tries someone will not notice it’s altered?

Skeptical, as that card valie service would avoid the backup at psa. Card would likely be back in hand within the week. Seems rather costly for an altered copy. Who knows these days

Whereas it concerns sports cards, I think making $30,000 purchase decisions without so much as a single photo is a fool's errand.

dangerous
 

Meaning will I have remorse if I buy an altered card for that price. If I had all the answers I would not have asked the questions.

That's a question ONLY YOU CAN ANSWER though. You seem to post a lot of those. That's the frustrating part. We shouldn't tell you what to do. You should figure out what you like.

If you know it's altered when you buy it, I don't think you'll somehow wish you bought an ugly PSA 1.5 instead. The main issue with buying a card and later finding out it's altered is that now it's on you to either sell the card honestly as altered, by getting it into an AUTHENTIC ALTERED holder and forcing PSA to pay out on their Grade Guarantee. That's stressful, and PSA could just tell you it's not altered and they don't owe you shit. They've done that about 10 times so far (that we know of) on cards valued $5K - $100K in the past year.

If you buy an altered card now, you know it's altered. You're never going to get surprised in the future that it's altered. You can just enjoy it for what it is.

can we please see the card

I know I am most certainly in the minority on this net54 forum, but baseball cards comes down to two types of people:

Investors - who love to go on and on on about PSA, PWCC, SGC, etc., until I can't take it anymore. When this clique gets in full swing, you cannot get a word in, you either get ignored or shut down with some offhand remark, and then the intense discussion continues. There is no hobby to these people. Stop pretending.

Card Collectors - who are in it for the pure joy of collecting, and who couldn't give a flying $#@! about graded cards.

Well said
 

Thanks. Seems no end to people who thrive on being negative.

I understand why some would be wary of buying an altered card, but there are clearly thousands of trimmed cards in holders with high grades. I settled the issue for myself years ago when I decided to a) avoid graded cards with high grades, and b) made my peace with trimmed cards. Now my collection is full of them, and I'm totally fine with it.

the card very well may be Authentic, but while you no doubt have to pay a premium for the 52 Mantle, especially in this market, I do not think 30K is a good deal, nor is it something to be spent lightly. If your committing that much to a Card, then might as well go a few thousand more for something that isn't altered.

I agree. Thirty thousand seems like a lot of money for a card that is altered. That is way more than I could ever spend on a single card, but I would have buyer's remorse for a lot less than $30K.

A picture would be very helpful

I buy altered cards for ones that would be way out of my price range otherwise. Im a collector and not an investor tho

THAT's what I'm talking about!

"Life can be that simple...relief, or discomfort...take your time. Is it safe?"

No. It will smother you in your sleep.

I owned an SGC Altered 52 Topps Mantle for a while. I enjoyed it and was sad to see it go, although not as sad as I am now hearing that some are selling for $30,000.

I see nothing wrong with buying altered cards if you know they are altered so long as you are okay with knowing your card has been altered. You can get a nicer looking card for a bit of a discount when you go that route.

I know nothing about the sale or seller or other "extracurriculars". However, if it's graded as authentic/altered by SGC or PSA, there is no danger. PSA and SGC are reliable for identifying the card as authentic, and, obviously, it's not overgraded.

As noted, if photos were posted here, you would get more specific commentary.

If you are potentially second guessing the purchase at this point, then trust your instincts and pass on it. Put that money towards a card you have no doubts or reservations about. Pretty sure you will enjoy that card more than questioning the altered one.

Cheers,

I do not know. That's a personal psychological thing and only time will tell for you. I'm not a fan of (correctly labeled as) altered cards, but others own them and have no regrets. But the practical key is that when you buy it you know what you are getting and pay a fair market price. If you have psychological remorse you can sell it. Obviously, the biggest problem would be if you find it's altered only after you buy it, and/or you overpaid and lose money at resale.

Many items you don't know really know what you think of owning it until you own it. You gotta have it in hand and have it for a while.

Ok...

Is it safe? No, it's out.

With that outa the way... It depends on the purpose of buying the card. Do you want it for your collection? Are there other cards in your collection that you know are altered to a similar degree? If so, then maybe it's safe for you.

But if you're buying it as something that you're gonna turn around and sell, then it's not safe. Buy some Clemente rookie cards, or a few white border Cobbs, or a Wagner, Mathewson or Jackson Cracker Jack. Then, at some point, give some thought to what are sound investments (an education, a home, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and my favorite if you're young-- buy a few acres and plant hardwood trees like walnut or cherry, then make sure rabbits and such don't nibble them down to nothing the first few years, water them the first few years, and then sell them in about 35 years). Baseball cards aren't sound investments. Neither are other hyped sports cards, memorabilia, NFTs, and the like. They are far from safe.

It's not my cup of tea. But Ken Kendrick seems to be ok with his...