Here we go yet again -- alleged trimmed and recolored CJs at auction

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

While those of you who know me know where I stand on all this, and I have dealt - first hand - with altered cards in slabs as an auction. I will say in general on the topic of how many more NM tobacco cards there are now then there were in the 80's, that's a bit misleading.

EVERY collectible dealt with the explosion of availability of what were thought to be unicorns in the advent of ebay and internet sales in general. Things like decanters, glassware like Fenton, and even to a degree things like books, stamps and coins suddenly were easily available. If you had to go to shows, flea markets and garage sales to add to your collection you could go crazy trying to find something that, as it turns out, was just scarce locally for some reason (or no real reason at all) The same goes for cards in general and high grade cards specifically.

I started doing shows when I was 14 and I remember in 1986 buying my first Goudey cards because they were the oldest things I had ever seen. On the local show circuit I honestly don't remember seeing ANY tobacco cards. I know I didn't buy my first T206's until Ebay came along.

Again do I think this explains even the majority of the high grade tobacco? No. But telling me something was scarce in the 1980's and easy to find now doesn't strike me as a great argument.

I respect your opinion and agree with most of what you said.

Yes, the internet created a centralized location to obtain and find things we were unable to before.

Those other types of items you mentioned, didn't become more common. They just became easier to find. Supply began to outstrip demand.

Demand, always outstripped supply, for high grade tobacco/candy/pre-war cards (particularly baseball). The internet era, while helping availability, also accelerated demand. With this demand, more high grade cards were "created".

When I say Hi-grade cards didn't "exist" in the 80's, I was of course guilty of hyperbole. No, this was not supposed to be an absolute statement.

The idea that there are certainly more (lots more) of them out there (which should be a mathematical impossibility), is not strictly anecdotal. It's backed up by literally 1000's (10's, 100's of 1000's ??), that have been exposed, and residing in TPG holders that show us that this card is more respected and higher graded, and with better eye appeal, then it was just a few short years ago.

I understand absolute statements make collectors who believe they are holding onto legitimate high grade cards from the past bristle, and I'm sorry for that. There are always exceptions to the rule.