Posted By:
Fred CMarty,
That's a good question. There's a lot of T206 experts here. I know a little bit about the T206 cards. The AB (American Beauty) cards are a little more narrow than others. My understanding is that this was due to the product packaging (way back when).
Now on to the grading part of the quesiton. Technically, PSA (and other graders) are not supposed to provide a numerical grade for a trimmed card. The whole idea behind third party grading companies is to provide the best unbiased (expert) opinion about the card. As you've heard grading is supposed to be subjective. Sometimes subjectivity goes out the door for special collectors or special cards. The bottom line is that the grading companies do tend to stick to a minimum size requirement/criteria for most cards. If it's blatantly obvious the card is trimmed they will, at best, provide an AUT (authentic) designation for the slab label. Now, if you submit to PSA and your name happens to be McNall, Gretzky or Harris, then they will bend the rules for you.
Bottom line is that the grading companies are fairly good at detecting trimmed cards. If you know the card is trimmed and you can live with the AUT designator then you'll be fine. If you try and slip one by expecting a numerical grade then you may be disappointed (unless your submitting to PSA and your last name is McNall, Gretzky or Harris - and probably a few others).
Sorry to turn this into a PSA bash thread, but it will always bother me that PSA has muddied the grading waters with their pompous attitude.