PSA: Please Explain "Authentic Altered"

[bmcnutt]

I am not big into sending cards to PSA, SGC, or any other card grader just to have a card graded. I feel "card grading" has somewhat ruined the market for collectors because so many cards are over priced, while I feel "car authentication" is great for the hobby due to the number of scumbags trying to ruin the greatest hobby on earth by infesting it with fakes and altered products. And anyone or any company that supports those scumbags are just as bad.

I recently purchased a 1909 E95 Philadelphia Caramel Frank Chance in the photo from a card shop in Bristol, Virginia. I tried to upload an image, but the site would not let me. It was obvious from the feel of the card, the looks, and of course.....the smell, the card is authentic. Since I have a rule that any tobacco or Pre-WW2 cards I buy online have to be authenticated by PSA or SGC, I decided I would at least get this card authenticated to keep everything uniformed. I figured, by the looks of the card, it would be graded at best a PR 1. But when I saw that it was graded "Authentic Altered", I was extremely shocked. I asked PSA multiple times to explain to me what was "altered", but they could not.

With all of the negative publicity that PSA is receiving in regards to grading trimmed cards, they need to start addressing what aspects brought them to the decision a card has been "altered". I lost all confidence in PSA. If you are going to accuse a collector or "altering" a card, but you are going to assist the scumbags on how to "trim" a card for a better grade, then you need to explain your finding to the collector as well.

I have no clue how to "alter" a card or even trim a card.

[perezfan]

They must’ve seen something that existed before you took ownership?

Maybe the grader was having a bad day, or got in a fight with his wife the night before. Maybe he was just lazy during his 30-second timeframe for appraisal.

Who knows... the whole process is random and dripping with slime, with favorable grades for “preferred” submitters. Regardless of the reason, it’s a perfect example of not needing a self-appointed expert to determine your cards’ status. YOU be the judge!

[x2drich2000]

Most likely the card is trimmed or recolored or something else was done to it. If you can get a image, the board will likely be able to tell you right away what was wrong. The board software doesn't like uploading directly from a mobile device due to the file size. If you want to send me the scan, I'll upload it for you.

Dj
x2drich2000@yahoo.com

[trdcrdkid]

PSA is not accusing you of altering the card; they're saying that at some point in the past, somebody altered it. This wasn't necessarily done with a malicious intent to deceive; it could have been any number of innocuous things. For example, there's the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle on eBay that I posted a link to in the "Bearded Mickey" thread. PSA graded it "Authentic Altered" because some kid in the distant past drew/scratched a beard on Mickey. There was no intent to deceive anybody or make the card look better; quite the contrary.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202441317919?ul_noapp=true



Or look at this T206 Cobb that PSA also graded "Authentic Altered". If you look very closely at the top border, you can see that there used to be something written in pencil there, and that somebody subsequently erased that pencil marking, also taking out some of the black border. (It's a lot easier to see if you have the card in hand and look with a magnifying glass.) I'm 99% sure that this erasure is the "alteration" that got the card its grade. Now, it's good to know about that, but I, personally, am not too bothered by it, so I'm happy to have this card in my collection. Others may disagree, and that's fine.

[drcy]

You essentially got a PR1 as you expected.

According to my personal grading scale, an altered card is a Poor 1. And some poor cards are so beat up that PSA gives them an altered.

[Bigshot69]

By any chance was the card in question purchased in a screwdown holder?