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Anonymous"2)What you are saying puts you at odds with what Dave Forman said. First he believes he can detect any trimmed card-you say its impossible to determine whether a card has really been altered."
No, you are misunderstanding what Dave and I said. According to you, he limited his comments to trimmed cards; I said "altered", not just trimmed. And what Dave said is not what SGC promises to the public, anyway. To quote from SGC's own web site:
"The SGC Guarantee"
"SGC guarantees that all cards submitted shall be graded by SGC grading experts in accordance with SGC grading procedures. In the event the original submitter of an SGC card believes that the card has been overgraded with respect to such procedures, the original submitter may resubmit that card to SGC for a review of the assigned grade. THIS RESUBMISSION MUST BE REQUESTED WITHIN 30 DAYS OF RECEIPT FROM SGC. If the grade determined under such review is lower than that originally assigned to the card, SGC shall, at SGC's option, either replace the card or pay the difference between the current fair market value of the card at the newly established grade and the current fair market value of the grade originally assigned to such card. Due to the volatile nature of the sportscard market and Internet auctions/sales, the selling prices in these auctions do not necessarily represent the current fair market value of any particular sportscard. SGC will determine the current fair market value of a card which is assigned a lower grade on review, based upon what SGC believes to be reliable current market information. Clerical errors with respect to the description or grade of the card(s) which would be obvious upon inspection shall not be subject to the SGC guarantee stated herein."
Ever hear "put your money where your mouth is"? SGC used to guarantee its work product and limited its guarantee with this clause shortly after its start. I wrote an article on this point in VCBC. When SGC revises this guarantee to state that it will repurchase any altered card in one of its holders, we have something to go on. Right now, we have a popcorn fart; in other words, nothing.
While I do not want this to devolve into another debate over grading, and I personally like SGC far more than any of its rivals and have entrusted them with my favorite cards, you are searching for certainty in an uncertain world, and it just does not exist. No organization is going to make you feel better about your collection, just like no grade on a slab is going to validate your collecting choices; you have to trust your own skills and knowledge.