PWCC listing of 1952 Mantle PSA 4.5 appears to be pressed

[OlderTheBetter]

There are a lot of altered cards out there. You may have some in your collection. In fact if you have a significant number of older high-end cards that you purchased, slabbed or not -- then it's even more likely.

This stuff has been going on for years and has mostly been tolerated by the hobby or it else wouldn't now be so rampant, and and has now reached the stage of hypocrisy. A 52 Mantle appears to be have been "conserved". Wa wa wa. What about all the other thousands of altered cards over the years where there was a wink and a nod and nothing was said or done about it?

This just didnt' start happening overnight. PSA's first card ever was trimmed. The original sin. High quality counterfeits are the next big thing. So yes I think that collectors are fooling themselves to think this might be going away in their lifetime. As long as there are large profits to be made selling to collectors who are paying big bucks for old cardboard then it will continue.
It's been gaining steam steadily in recent years and nothing to stop it.

Don't expect grading companies to do anything. They do a volume business and their backlogs are already objectionable.

[ajg]

Wow With all the scrutiny this card has undergone it STILL got almost $59,000 for a PSA 4.5. Mantle Rookie cards show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by ajg

Wow With all the scrutiny this card has undergone it STILL got almost $59,000 for a PSA 4.5. Mantle Rookie cards show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

No? Didnt a bvg 4.5 sell last night for 18k ?

Must be the "eyeballs"

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

No? Didnt a bvg 4.5 sell last night for 18k ?

Must be the "eyeballs"

People must have been worried the Beckett one was altered.

[dio]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

People must have been worried the Beckett one was altered.

that beckett one is more like a psa 1.5 or less

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by dio

that beckett one is more like a psa 1.5 or less

It would probably be a PSA 3 with that light soiling in front. Plenty o' 3s have that same rub on the front. All I collect is 52 topps and have seen plenty that look worse on the front. Am I missing something else?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by ajg

Wow With all the scrutiny this card has undergone it STILL got almost $59,000 for a PSA 4.5. Mantle Rookie cards show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Wait there was a Mantle ROOKIE too???

[chalupacollects]

Originally Posted by ajg

Wow With all the scrutiny this card has undergone it STILL got almost $59,000 for a PSA 4.5. Mantle Rookie cards show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Yep winning bidder with under 50 feedback and all previous bids with PWCC. Another underbidder also had 100% bidding with PWCC a third with 66%... Quite possible this card ends up in the PWCC vault for a very very long time...

[tschock]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

Yep winning bidder with under 50 feedback and all previous bids with PWCC. Another underbidder also had 100% bidding with PWCC a third with 66%... Quite possible this card ends up in the PWCC vault for a very very long time...

Right next to the Ark of the Covenant.

[chalupacollects]

Originally Posted by tschock

Right next to the Ark of the Covenant.

Yes the certified autograph one!

[jchcollins]

See the PWCC "Conservation" thread that they started over on the Prewar forum. It's all the same - the ends justify the means, and the sad fact is that for most people - once a card resides in a numbered slab, the desire to question how it may have actually gotten there rapidly fades. Some of the other points in this thread are very well valid also - we may be better at detecting the work now this day in age where internet scans of before and after raw alteration and apparent fradulent slabbing jobs seep out of the woodwork - but don't think for a second that doesn't mean it wasn't also happening back in the 1990's. The fact that the vast majority of the hobby today simply glosses over the fact that the very first PSA slab job on the Gretzky Wagner was a total sham - is telling in terms of how as a whole people still just want to leave their heads stuck in the sand.

For me personally, all of the suspicion has reached such a fever pitch that I am really loathe to trust the TPG's anymore, even on mid-grade cards. So I just try not to think about it and buy cards at reasonable prices that are aesthetically pleasing to me. It's certainly why I don't want to spend multiples more on a "high-end" graded card when for my own purposes - a nice PSA 4-6 range example will do just fine. Yes, it's less likely that someone would take the time to alter stuff to mess with a PSA 4.5 of the type cards that I'm able to afford - a couple hundred bucks here and there a the most - but if they are able to do it for lesser grades of the marquee cards, and do it all the time seemingly now convincingly - what type of cards are next?

[Fuddjcal]

I don't want to get kicked off the board for railing a paid advertiser of this site, but the facts are the FACTS period...something is rotten in Denmark.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by OlderTheBetter

There are a lot of altered cards out there. You may have some in your collection. In fact if you have a significant number of older high-end cards that you purchased, slabbed or not -- then it's even more likely.

This stuff has been going on for years and has mostly been tolerated by the hobby or it else wouldn't now be so rampant, and and has now reached the stage of hypocrisy. A 52 Mantle appears to be have been "conserved". Wa wa wa. What about all the other thousands of altered cards over the years where there was a wink and a nod and nothing was said or done about it?

This just didnt' start happening overnight. PSA's first card ever was trimmed. The original sin. High quality counterfeits are the next big thing. So yes I think that collectors are fooling themselves to think this might be going away in their lifetime. As long as there are large profits to be made selling to collectors who are paying big bucks for old cardboard then it will continue.
It's been gaining steam steadily in recent years and nothing to stop it.

Don't expect grading companies to do anything. They do a volume business and their backlogs are already objectionable.

I would disagree with you if you are ok with all of this. But in terms of a realistic outlook on the situation, I fear you are closer to being correct than many of us would like to admit.