What do you think makes this Mantle authentic/altered?

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by G1911

I've never understood, personally, why this is considered Altered and ungradable though. To me, "Authentic - Altered" is a card that has taken unnatural damage during the course of a fraud. Like trimming, having sharpie touching up a 1971 Topps card, a card that has gone through a chemical bath and wreaks of Bleach, a card that has a ink color removed long after creation to try and fool someone into buying an 'error'. This doesn't look nefarious at all, just some kid writing on Mantle's face and erasing it. To me this is just a normal 2-Good condition card.

If you write on Mickey's Face, you can get an 8-MK, but if the kid then erased it, you get a 0. Doesn't make sense to me, though I am probably in the minority here since this is something of a standard now.

Yeah, there doesn't appear to be anything nefarious going on with this one.

[steve B]

Similar mark on the back just left of center. Maybe glare or a reflection? seems odd that it would be similar but located differently on different sides

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by steve B

Similar mark on the back just left of center. Maybe glare or a reflection? seems odd that it would be similar but located differently on different sides

I noticed that as well when I first saw it.

I (at first) thought it was a rub mark so strong that it wore down into the card and could be seen through the reverse, but then it seemed to be along different sides.

Of course, its likely just a glare, but its for sure a mark on the front.
I'd save a bit more and buy an example I like a bit better.

In the past year I have seen a handful that were much more appealing in the $1,100 - $1,400 range.