Erasing a light pencil mark, altering in a negative manner?

[matty39]

I went to bed with my window open last night and forgot a few cards on the table. It was extremely dusty and windy. This morning I noticed a fine layer of dust on my cards. I took a cloth and wiped the "dirt" off the cards. Am I guilty of altering them?

[barrysloate]

I understand that any alteration bothers you, and that's okay. But a pencil erasure would not bother me.

Originally Posted by matty39

I went to bed with my window open last night and forgot a few cards on the table. It was extremely dusty and windy. This morning I noticed a fine layer of dust on my cards. I took a cloth and wiped the "dirt" off the cards. Am I guilty of altering them?

Yes you are and the cards should be destroyed!!!! I will PM you my address so I can ensure they are properly incinerated.

[Matthew H]

How can anyone compare wiping dust off a card to erasing a mark to smoothing a crease. All of those are very different to each other. I agree that erasing a mark to make a card look a little better is fine... Having an SGC grader open a slab and stand by while you erase a mark then upgrade said card is incredibly unethical (for the grader). Is that service available to anyone? I doubt it.

I purchased a 10 card submission to PSA one time in my life. The grades came back all over the place, overgraded, undergraded. They probably spent 10 seconds max grading each card. Its a completely worthless service IMO. I can see how it appeals to some people... Mainly those who have personal relationships with the graders and discuss various ways to achieve a better grade, as discussed here, WOW

Edit: I believe thisis to be unethical by SGC. I don't mind that Pete erased his card, it's his.

[pcoz]

Originally Posted by Matthew H

How can anyone compare wiping dust off a card to erasing a mark to smoothing a crease. All of those are very different to each other. I agree that erasing a mark to make a card look a little better is fine... Having an SGC grader open a slab and stand by while you erase a mark then upgrade said card is incredibly unethical (for the grader). Is that service available to anyone? I doubt it.

I purchased a 10 card submission to PSA one time in my life. The grades came back all over the place, overgraded, undergraded. They probably spent 10 seconds max grading each card. Its a completely worthless service IMO. I can see how it appeals to some people... Mainly those who have personal relationships with the graders and discuss various ways to achieve a better grade, as discussed here, WOW

Edit: I believe thisis to be unethical by SGC. I don't mind that Pete erased his card, it's his.

Matt, good points and they are all different situations. I know many have erased marks on cards rather easily and frequently over time. Because of the cost of the card in question, I wanted them to take it out of the holder. I asked ahead of time if erasing a mark and resubmitting it was ok, and they felt the pencil hadn't been there before, so it wasn't adding or taking anything from the card to "alter" it. But, I can see how others may feel that may not have been a normal process in having them there. I requested one of them to be there, so they witnessed me doing it and didn't think anything else would be done to the card. I'd say they'd do it for anyone if you paid the walk through price and had it graded there. It was by no means a "special" service, as I don't know any of them personally.

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by pcoz

Matt, good points and they are all different situations. I know many have erased marks on cards rather easily and frequently over time. Because of the cost of the card in question, I wanted them to take it out of the holder. I asked ahead of time if erasing a mark and resubmitting it was ok, and they felt the pencil hadn't been there before, so it wasn't adding or taking anything from the card to "alter" it. But, I can see how others may feel that may not have been a normal process in having them there. I requested one of them to be there, so they witnessed me doing it and didn't think anything else would be done to the card. I'd say they'd do it for anyone if you paid the walk through price and had it graded there. It was by no means a "special" service, as I don't know any of them personally.

Well Pete, your explanation makes your situation more understandable. But, not really for SGC. I live an hour away from PSA, so if I pay more for a walk through they will grade my cards differently?

So this makes total sense now, we have to pay for this "special service"... Which is fine, although it's too bad our hobby values cards (for the most part) based on this grading system.

[pcoz]

Originally Posted by Matthew H

Well Pete, your explanation makes your situation more understandable. But, not really for SGC. I live an hour away from PSA, so if I pay more for a walk through they will grade my cards differently?

So this makes total sense now, we have to pay for this "special service"... Which is fine, although it's too bad our hobby values cards (for the most part) based on this grading system.

Matt, I probably didn't explain SGC's policy of a walk through, which is having a card graded with same day service at their location. Since I was visiting my pop in N Jersey, I brought the card to them to get it regraded on the spot. I'm sure I could've sent it in with my explanation, and am confident they'd have handled/graded it the same way.

[4815162342]

Okay, at the time of this post, the board opinion on this matter is an overwhelming 81-10 that pencil erasure isn't a negative alteration. I have one question though: Would it make a difference if this were a high-grade card?

If this card was originally graded SGC 80 / PSA 8 MK, then upon removal of the pencil erasure became SGC 98-100 / PSA 10, would you still think it's okay?