[edhans]

Conceding Mac's point on the Street, I agree that it's not really possible to determine if the card is altered from the OP's scan. I'll amend my statement-if the Street is determined to be unaltered, it would have qualified for a number grade until (apparently) very recently. If, in fact, there has been a change in SGC's standards, I continue to maintain that their clients and the hobby in general are owed a vastly more detailed explanation than the self-serving, three sentence reply they gave Cliff. There are tens of thousands of off center and miscut cards with number grades in the holders of all the companies. How will the market react to this change? Do such cards lose significant value, since they'll now be AUT only? Or do SGC A cards that may qualify for a number grade in other company's holders get a bump in value?

At the end of the day, all these TPGs are self-appointed experts. There is, of course, no governing body or universal standards to which these entities or their employees are accountable. Obviously they are free to establish their own standards, policies and procedures. But to attempt to impose their standards on the hobby (or industry, if you prefer) seems to me somewhat akin to Brent Huigens' attempt to foist his own definition of "conservation vs. alteration" on us a couple years ago. One company or individual simply does not have the right to dictate to everyone else how hobby material should be viewed.

I will admit to a good deal of anger when I read statements such as "Our graders are the foremost experts in the industry". Do these include the graders who passed millions of dollars worth of altered cards? Not singling out SGC here by any means. I actually think they're far more competent than any of their rivals (which may not be saying very much). Sad to think that many of the same people that missed so many butchered cards may be training the future generation of graders. And there are hundreds of people (i'm not one of them) who have more expertise in their little pinkie than the vast majority of graders at any of the companies have in their entire selves.

Sorry for the long rant. Now back to your normal programming...