Where's the line drawn for AUTH and ALT?
 

I had a difficult time trying to figure out two things about an auction lot that ended in Heritage on 27JAN24:

1 – Why such a high price? Rhetorical question with the answer being because someone really wanted it that badly.

2- At what point do TPGs not holder a card AUTH or at least provide some clue to the alteration?

This truly Frankenstein N300 Anson sold for $2880 (includes the BP).

The card is in a PSA AUTH holder. Kudos to Heritage for adding more information to the description after they noticed the bottom of the card (with Mayo ad) was glued on to the card. They could have easily indicated, "well, it's graded by PSA". If you didn’t look closely, you may not have noticed the piece that was glued on/added.

At what point do TPGs holder or not holder a card? I’m already anticipating the responses that indicate “well, it is an authentic card”.

I suppose someone could paste a tab to the bottom of a Zeenut and call it Zeenut with tab… :p

This is authentic and ALTERED. Any differences between AUTH and ALT or are they the same?

The card was part of an REA auction from the Spring 2017 auction. The picture in the REA auction description shows the card in a GAI AUTH holder and the bottom ad is clearly removed.

Attachment 607632

That's a custom card at this point, isn't it?

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At this point, with that card specifically it's like an Art Project.

There clearly needs to be a new designation. I know this happens with comicbooks all the time now, when it comes to grading. Slab it in a holder and label it restored. That clearly seems the direction we are heading in the hobby as it's becoming more and more prevalent that people are willing to doctor, alter or restore cards in any which way they deem fit.


To me, it used to be, the designation between Authentic and Altered was that the "Authentic" card was too beat up, or in poor condition to give it a number grade, but it was indeed the real deal. Altered was that the card was trimmed, or doctored in some way. I've purchased altered cards in the past, typically because of how they present, and the discount that comes with them.

Crazy that someone paid almost 3k for that wow

To me, they are both authentic altered.
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It should probably say Authentic Restored, however that is not an option with PSA

If a card is deemed to be a factory cut card that doesn't meet the minimum size requirement, PSA will slab it as "Authentic" and not "Authentic Altered". If it is deemed to have been trimmed, they will of course slab it as "Authentic Altered".

Submitters also have the option of just having a card authenticated by PSA and not even considered for a grade. These cards will only say "Authentic" on the slab and not "Authentic Altered".

Travis -- so if you know a card is altered, it sounds like you can submit it for authentication only and receive an Authentic grade. But if you submit it hoping to slip the alterations past the graders, then you'll get an Authentic Altered grade. Seems pretty silly and an easy way to avoid the dreaded "Altered" qualifier.

I believe they do label that as Authentic Altered in that case, though I'm not 100% certain. I seem to recall hearing that this changed over time.