PWCC Statement on Recent Card Trimming Concerns

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Well if that’s even plausible, then grading is even more senseless than originally thought.

It is more than plausible.

Several years ago, I bought a raw 1910-era HOFer tobacco card from a very well known and respected member of these boards, and auction house owner. The seller is extremely knowledgeable about tobacco cards. I sent it in to PSA. They said it was "trimmed", and returned it to me unslabbed.

I contacted the seller, and he assured me the card was completely original and un-tampered with. I believed him. I checked the card myself, and found absolutely no signs of tampering.

A couple years later, I resubmitted the card to PSA, and they graded it a "4". I still have it.

Both Net54 and the CU message boards are full of posts from people who have submitted cards, only for them to come back to them either ungraded, or with low grades. The common term used is that the cards were looked at by the G.O.D., or "Grader of Death".

That is just considering cards that were graded multiple times by the same company. There are even more instances regarding cards originally graded by one company, and then sent to one of the other TPGs, where they received differing grades. That can simply be caused by differing standards between the two TPGs, but could also be related to an overly harsh first-look.

Steve