1933 Delong Mini??

[steve B]

Anytime the difference in money gets beyond a certain point you're right to look at any card very critically. If the difference between VG-EX and EX is just a couple dollars there probably won't be many trimmed cards. Some, but not really common. But for even a common prewar set like T206 there's a decent difference in price between say a 40 and a 60. Beyond a 60 it gets steeper.

About half the cards I've had graded were ones I'd had since the mid 80's Both the cards I showed are ones I've had since before 1987. I don't recall exactly when, but a lot of them I picked up before plastic holders were really common. And dealers would put the cards out on the table in stacks with no holders at all. While I had them they were loose, in pages, in holders of various kinds, and finally sent in. A lot of handling and they mostly held up well. (Except for an E90 I think I creased getting it out of a page but oddly it still got a decent grade)

I also hung out at a shop and got to see some of the collections come in. Pretty amazing at times. Nothing like seeing someone ask about the dealer buying cards then pulling a stack of Goudeys or T cards out of a jacket pocket!
Or a small box or tin for something entirely unrelated.

The other half were bought raw on Ebay fairly recently, and have mostly done well. Some I got good deals because the seller was either new or not a card seller and maybe some bidders thought the cards were just too nice.
Of course there's been a few that turned out to have problems. The only one that went back was from a dealer with a lot of years in the hobby who should have known better. The others were not really bad deals as they look really nice but are trimmed for sure. And they're within spec for size too.

I'm sure stuff gets past all three of the major companies. But in general they're pretty good. Now other companies.........I have a very nice looking Delong graded a 7 by one of them. Matches the specially sized holder very closely, but none of the four edges show any wear or chipping even under the 40X magnifier. My other one is so beat it's not a good comparison, but I have to think the nice one is trimmed.

Steve B

Steve