Article about Collecting and Fraud in the Hobby

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

I agree Bob, very well said :-). On the positive side, I do feel that PSA and SGC have become much better at detecting altered cards.

But apparently not good enough to catch ALL the stellar alteration and restoration work some of these card doctors can perform.

People talked about AI eventually being the answer, and lauded PSA for acquiring Genamint if I remember correctly, as a possible beginning to this improved alteration detection movement. But as then later discussed on here, that AI may not work anywhere near as well as many had hoped, and was likely years away from maybe ever having any real impact on the issue, whatsoever. What I do seem to remember though was the potential use of Genamint type/level of technology in the taking of high-resolution scans of cards, which could then detect and show a unique print/ink pattern of each card so you could definitively always identify one card from another, just like a fingerprint is unique for each human. That way if a car doctor altered/restored a card that had been previously scanned using this kind of technology, no matter how different that card may look after the alteration/restoration, you can forever show it was the same card. What the BODA/Blowout guys did/are doing is great, but I still don't think all their matches would garner 100% certainty like this technology could provide.

The problem though with detecting alterations and restorations with such technology is you'd have to have a scan of the unaltered/unrestored card image to compare to first. And for all the cards that have already been altered/restored, it is too late. And even in some instances where say one TPG had already graded and did the high-resolution scan of a card, what would stop a card doctor from buying the one TPG's graded card, breaking it out of the holder to alter/restore, and then submit it to a different TPG for grading and encapsulation? Or does anyone really think the TPGs would actually agree voluntarily to start sharing such information/images among themselves? I sure as heck don't see that happening anytime soon, if ever.

Well, here's a somewhat radical idea that could possibly resolve the issue. Maybe instead of fighting and arguing against alterations and restorations, have the hobby and industry embrace them. And by that I mean realize that many in the hobby have no problems or issues owning altered or restored cards, and may in fact prefer to have a much better looking altered/restored card than what it looked like in its original state. So why not recognize them as such and give them their own category? Instead of a TPG just listing an altered/restored card as "A" for authentic, and that is it, the TPG can recognize that not all alterations/restorations are the same. What if they noted the alteration/restoration done on the card, but then still gave the card a numerical grade based on how it looks, without factoring in the alteration/restoration itself. I guess maybe a little like how some TPGs would list and rate qualifiers on cards they graded. That way someone who doesn't get caught up in alterations/restorations can go out and find and pay for that 6 or 7 grade card they were looking for, and the purists can stick to only buying the unaltered/unrestored cards they prefer. For one thing, it could create new business for TPGs. Think of all the "A", altered and restored cards that are out there that their owners would send in for numerical grades.

And at the end of the day, let the market decide what different grades of restored/altered cards are worth. Just a thought and idea though.