Argument for why Tobacco insert cards cannot realistically be Grades of 8 or 9

[steve B]

I'd expect very few would survive in that sort of condition. But we did see them in a way years ago didn't we?
I was never picky about condition, but did pick up a few nice ones. My best is a 7, but one or two others have nice enough corners that they might have gone higher if not for some other flaw.
That's one reason I prefer separating how well preserved a card is from how well it was made.

The numbers really aren't bad.
Just for PSA,
total T206s graded 241,098 including qulaifiers
8 = 2395 Just under 1%
8.5 =62
9 =278 Around .1%
10 = 13

Not counting any with qualifiers, which isn't all that many, for 8s and 9s 169 cards.

None of that means that there aren't a number of cards in those 2700 or so that are altered, just that even with altered card there really aren't many T206s that are 8s and 9s

Most other sets of that era don't have any 8s or 9s. And some of the ones that do are pretty durable, like domino discs or P2 pins. All the fairly common sets have a few, but not many.