Trimmed? Or something else?

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Posted By: ephuspitch

So, the first batch of vintage cards I ever laid eyes on was one big, original hoard. A friend of the family found them, literally, under the floorboards in his attic ... they must've been put up there before 1935 or so, because everything in the box was pre-1913 (except for one mysterious Diamond Star Charlie Gehringer) ... about 50% T206, 25% T210, and mostly T204 and T205 from there ... with a few double folders and triple folders mixed in.

Some of these cards ended up in my possession, most have been sold. What a find, though, right? For me it was a big deal, but at the time my idea of a super-valuable, super-cool card was the 1985 McGwire card. My wildest dream might have been a Mantle or a Paige. So, I liked cards, but didn't really have much of a collection or much appreciation... just my favorites. Mark Fydrych -- that type of thing. To most of you on this board the find would have been quite a bit more remarkable, and as I learn more about the hobby, the find takes on more and more meaning.

Which brings me (finally!) to my point, and my question. I helped the friend sell some of the cards, (as he was older and couldn't really care less about the cards, but really needed the money.) While helping him, I sent a bunch of the cards to SGC. 100 cards, to be precise. And 97 of them came back graded. Three came back trimmed. Now, I know this hoard was never disturbed after the Thirties, but anything could have happened before then.

Here's the question -- and I don't have a scanner, which makes the whole discussion pretty academic -- but is it possible these cards WEREN'T trimmed? All three were HOFer T206s (Cobb, Crawford, McGraw) ... so I guess someone might have trimmed these way back in 1915, just because they were popular and maybe the cards were dinged or something, but I don't see why it would only be three cards out of the (literally) hundreds. And here's the real kicker. The Cobb (red port.) does seem a tiny bit short ... but it's also WIDE. Is that normal or common? It's a tiny fraction wide ... just about as far too wide as it is too short. We are talking about a fraction of millimeters, it seems to me. If backs matter, it's a Sweet Cap. Pretty much everything in the hoard was Sweet Cap, Ramly, or Mecca.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.