Trust PSA?

[SAllen2556]

Been working on a Diamond Stars set for about a year now. There's lots about graded cards I don't understand - and I mean lots.

I understand that there were variances in card sizes back in the day and that if you stack 50 cards on top of each other they may not line up exactly. But using Lefty Grove as an example, can someone explain these discrepancies?

Without being able to physically examine the edges because the card is encased, how do you approach buying cards with such potential inconsistencies in their sizes? I'm at a loss whether to trust PSA or not. Would you pay top dollar for a card that seems way too small for the holder?

See how thin the black border is on all 4 sides of these three cards, Of course I've read that cards can be soaked, stretched, and then trimmed to appear "normal" size, but I'd assume that would be caught by PSA.





But on these four, the black border is definitely larger on at least one edge - with very nice, expensive grades I might add.