[drcy]

He has been accused of selling hundreds of doctored/altered cards in graded holders-- and, I don't know, but some have said knowingly selling cards from well known card doctors-- , and is now trying to explain that certain types of alterations are okay and not even alterations, they don't have to be disclosed to the buyer, and, essentially, that "if you can't tell that a doctored card hasn't been doctored, it isn't doctored,"-- which is reminiscent of the old steroid baseball era saying "it's not cheating if you don't get caught."

Am I a zealot who thinks using a pantyhose to remove a wax stain from the back of a card a mortal sin? No. Do I think a card that has had a pencil mark erased or wax stain removed can legitimately receive a 10? No. I assume the card may be deserving of a number grade, but no 10. Perfectly gradable 2s and 3s have varying damage including sometimes identified by the grader pencil, erasure and pen marks, but a legitimate 10 cannot be created or be the product of working on the card.

So doing something to the card isn't necessarily bad or unethical (I'm not saying it's wrong to remove a wax stain or pencil mark or have the card conserved), and in instances, the card may still be deserving of a number grade, but what has been done should be factored into the grade.