I see an increasing amount of collectors out there 40s to 20s who are okay with a card having been improved. They just want it to look great and be in the slab. Plastic surgery, so to speak.
That said, reading this thread reminds me though why I will always hold onto my 52 Topps Mantle— because I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the lovely gentleman who pulled it from the pack in the summer of '52, and who later had it graded.
Just one collector's opinion, for me to be able to trace a card's origin like that from pack to my hand adds value that cannot be quantified (though buddies have certainly tried to quantify it and buy it from me, LOL). I think very few graded old cards have a lineage that a collector can look at and prove the card was never improved.
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