Altered high grade E93s in Mile High?

[autograf]

So do you have the smoking gun or are you going on circumstantial evidence counselor?

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by autograf

So do you have the smoking gun or are you going on circumstantial evidence counselor?

Fair question but I'd rather not say. Not on Net 54 anyway.

[oldjudge]

Jeff--on the Cobb I can see the 6 turning into the 9. However, if you are saying the 5 became the 6, which became the 9, I can't see that. The 6 has a stain in the UL corner (viewer's UL) that is not on the 5. The Wagner I can absolutely see. Great work!
Can you say if this is the doing of a soon to be incarcerated offender, or a hopefully in the future incarcerated offender?

[autograf]

I can't see the 6 becoming the 9. The orange color shift down on the 6 leads me to believe the 5 became the 9. JMO.........................

[benchod]

My first thought when seeing the auction was that they had been given a " bath".
The orange background on the Cobb is washed out

[ullmandds]

are any of these from the former jim b collection?

[benchod]

No

[steve B]

I'm not sure about the Cobbs, I also think if one was turned into a 9 it was more likely the 5 than the 6 because of the registration.

The Wagners are a different story.
The fisheye behind his head makes the pair more suspect than I'd be comfortable with. Fisheyes are from debris on the offset blanket, and can be on only one card or several, probably fewer back then, potentially hundreds in the 70's probably fewer today.

But the odds of two cards with the same defect in the same spot surviving in really nice condition over a century from (I presume) different original sources? Outside of two finds like the black swamp group, that's pushing the envelope a bit too far.
Now if they were beaters...........Yeah, that stuff happens and two worn cards with the same flaw wouldn't be a surprise.

Steve Birmingham

[atx840]

Wags is 99%

Cobbs are very very close, likely the same but really need a better scan.