Posted By:
Tom L.The top grading companies are good at spotting altered or counterfeit cards. They are even experienced with some of the rare card sets, having handled more of the really rare issues than most other people.
However, they probably won't be able to contribute anything on something obscure - possibly unique - like Bob's card. I know first-hand that even the most reputable grading companies still rely on hobby reference books and outside experts (such as Mastro) on really tough questions. The only people who probably really know this type of thing are guys like Lew Lipset, Marc Macrae, and maybe two or three other guys with decades and decades of vintage card experience. And even they probably won't know for sure.
My own opinion is that Bob is probably correct in his assessment of the card. I have some of the notebook cards, and there is no variation from the regular issues whatsoever. There would have been no reason for any of these types of products to use an "original" card, when they could just as easily have used one of the regular card fronts already produced. I think this is more in line with the T-206 proof cards that were never issued (as discussed in Lipset's Encyclopedia), even though they don't have the hash marks. Pete Calderon could probably shed light on the hash mark issue, but I would expect that there are potentially multiple places pre-production where cards would have been printed without those marks.
Just my opinion.