Trimming - How common?

[STL1944]

Hi All,


I think I might have just learned my first expensive lesson of the hobby (and feel pretty stupid to boot). Back in October I purchased a raw 1953 Bowman Color Stan Musial. The card came in and is beautiful. I stored it away planning on getting it graded later with a larger lot.

About a week ago I saw a posting on this forum about a seller on Ebay that was potentially modifying their cards and photos. My heart sank as it was the same seller that I purchased my Musial from. Sure enough I measured it this evening and it appears to be 1/16" short (see scan below).

I have reached out to the seller to see if I can still return the card. We shall see but I am not hopeful.

My question for the group is:

1) Is 1/16" inside of the normal variation of 1953 Bowmans?
2) How common is trimming in our hobby? (I am clueless here)
3) Outside of buying graded cards (and cards from folks here), how do you protect to yourself from trimmed cards? Should I be measuring every card I buy?



Here is the picture: Trimmed or not trimmed?

baseball bowman 4_0003.jpg


Oh, and I guess this means that I am back in the market for a great condition 1953 Bowman Musial....