What should I do with this card?

[drumback]

I bought this card on ebay last week from a fellow board member. First, I want to make it clear I have no complaint whatsoever about the seller, who has a strong reputation and many years experience with pre-war cards. He has offered a full refund if I don't want to keep the card.

The card was listed on ebay as a color variation. I received the card today, looked it over, and believe the color variation is definitely legitimate. It has not been altered to achieve the color variation. It is really quite unique and interesting; there is gray sky where it should be blue. See scans below.

The problem is that I believe the card has been trimmed on the top. You can't really see it in the scans, but when viewing the actual card, it's fairly obvious. So, my concern is that if I send it in for grading, it will receive an "A" grade for the trimming, and people will later assume the "A" refers to altering the card to achieve a color variation. I don't usually have my T206 cards graded, but I think perhaps I should on this one due to the unique color. On a previous thread, one member wrote that he thought it looked fake, so if I keep it without grading it might be hard to sell later on.

So, I would like some advice on what to do with this card. I paid $125 for it. Should I return it for a refund? Given that it is probably trimmed, what would collectors of T206 error cards think it is worth? Should I send it in for grading? If so, is one grading company better than the other when working with these kinds of cards?

Any help/advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Mark
drumback2@cox.net