Posted By:
Marc S.<<You would not like to know who altered cards and who doesn't--boy I would--it would make it a lot easier for buying.>>
Jim:
You make it sound as if there are some people in this hobby who are nothing but bad....card alterers extraordinaire who do nothing but feed bad cards into the hobby. Why must it be so black and white for you? Even if there is a successful card alterer, his success is predicated upon his ability to pass his materials through grading companies. Once they are professionally graded, there are dozens, if not hundreds of avenues by which said person could get his card circulating through the hobby. Ebay, Auction houses, Ebay consignors, etc. Even some of the people whom I believe are card alterers (hi, Gary!) have at least accomplished rudimentary ways to get those cards into the hobby.
That's the whole problem, them. Once it is out in the hobby, where it goes is anyone's game. I hear and read stories of T-206s, T-205s and other pre-war cards that are traded, bought and sold, or otherwise trade hands at least half a dozen times over the course of a year or two. At which point, you've pretty much killed any chance of being able to simplify the problem by trusting some people, but not others.
Of course, the flip side of the issue is that a collector's best defense is to understand card alterations as best they can. Jim -- you mention in the past that in the 1980s, you purchased runs of sets from Alan Rosen, some of which contained altered cards. Have you inspected those cards to see what the alterations are? Have you inspected any of the cards in your personal collection? I believe that your biggest issue with this hobby is that you want to trust the grading companies to be correct 100% of the time, but you cannot. However, you do not trust yourself, or are otherwisde disinclined to personally examine your acquisitions to see if any of them are potentially problematic.
Jim -- at what point will you realize that you are in the minority? Yes -- many of us have concerns about card alterations. Me -- I've educated myself and figure I can do a better than average job on evaluating a card. But your fascination with this topic is akin to Gollum's fascination with the One Ring. The rest of us want to enjoy this hobby, which is why we participate in these and other forums. You have completed hijacked this thread (and another) simultaneously. Is there any chance that you will actually read the messages and tones that other collectors are using with you on threads like these? On occassion, it is amusing in a Peter Chao kind of way. But you've ruined another great thread, with the same premises that you frequently harp upon: not adding any new information and dragging up the same old ****.