Is Trimmed really so bad?!???

[Archive]

Posted By: Anthony Clevamonte

For typical white bordered cards, the purpose of the border is to protect the image area from damage. As such, it has served its function once the card is permanently removed from circulation. And the degree of damage which the borders have absorbed are only of historical curiousity. In fact, once the card is removed from circulation, its protective borders should also be removed.

Now a grading service will never subscribe to this philosophy, because it eliminates much of the service which they provide. But to my thinking - the collector makes the rules.

And hacking the borders off does not apply to all sets. Some have the borders integrated in the card design, and others employ decorative borders which add to the card's appearance.

So, buy up the trimmed, off centered, and rounded corners all you like - and hack 'em off - usually the borders are not the card.

- Tony (the Cleaver) Clevamonte