How do you feel when you see this in an auction

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

I would characterize a perfectly-done erasure of a pencil mark not as an alteration but instead as a removal of an alteration, thus returning the card to its original state (and by original state I mean the state it was in upon manufacture without anything being permanently added (e.g., touchup, bleaching, paper restoration)). I think the semantics here are important because if upon the removal of the pencil mark the card is characterized as having had the original (temporary) alteration removed and being returned to its unaltered state, then no one should take issue with the card receving a numerical grade. If on the other hand the removal of the pencil mark is regarded as a subsequent alteration, some might regard the card as having undergone two alterations and thus not suitable for a numerical grade.