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Posted By: runscott

But I have to disagree about one point you make - I have seen enough t206s to where I can sometimes tell easily if a card has been trimmed, even from an ebay scan. I can't do that with all issues, but for a few it is quite easy in many cases (t206s, t205s, etc.) That's not bragging, simply what you would expect from anyone who has spent countless hours looking closely at many, many cards. That doesn't mean that I couldn't make a mistake. I have talked with MW about '50s cards and it's obvious that he can spot trimmed, slabbed cards very easily - I am clueless and don't care much for those cards, so I'm not willing to spend time getting myself "educated". MW and others have told me that spotting trimmed '50s cards is actually quite easy.

...and I don't typically measure cards - if you've seen enough of a particular issue, you don't need to pull out a ruler;in fact, I think it's a crutch for some collectors that actually inhibits their learning the issue. Every time someone mentions their ruler in relation to a low-grade t206, it tells me something about their expertise. If a card looks short, I will look very carefully at the borders to try and determine if it is likely that it's been trimmed.

In the case of high-grade t206s, the ruler WILL come out, and the card better measure "full", or I don't want it. That's simply reducing risk - sure, I will pass on legitimate cards by doing that, but I don't care.