Report of the January 25 NYC Hobby Forum

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jim- if dealers and collectors were to get together and form an organization, what would you expect them to do collectively to prevent altered cards from reaching the market?

What we realized from the meeting is that there are a fair number of disreputable people who spend their time working with sophisticated cutting tools, and many have probably taken courses in paper restoration. It would be nearly impossible to find them, because they work under the radar and we may not even know who they are.

If the cards they altered were being sold raw, it would be very difficult for collectors to protect themselves because their work is just too good. We saw from the samples Dave brought in that we can't always determine just by sight which cards are good and which ones aren't.

However, that is where the grading services come in. It is their job to examine cards closely, whether they are VG, EX, or NR MT/MT. The better they do their job, the better we are protected. If they are missing alterations and letting bad cards get into holders, we are truly in trouble.

With all that in mind, what goals would you hope a collectors' organization could accomplish?