PSA: Please Explain "Authentic Altered"

[perezfan]

They must’ve seen something that existed before you took ownership?

Maybe the grader was having a bad day, or got in a fight with his wife the night before. Maybe he was just lazy during his 30-second timeframe for appraisal.

Who knows... the whole process is random and dripping with slime, with favorable grades for “preferred” submitters. Regardless of the reason, it’s a perfect example of not needing a self-appointed expert to determine your cards’ status. YOU be the judge!

[x2drich2000]

Most likely the card is trimmed or recolored or something else was done to it. If you can get a image, the board will likely be able to tell you right away what was wrong. The board software doesn't like uploading directly from a mobile device due to the file size. If you want to send me the scan, I'll upload it for you.

Dj
x2drich2000@yahoo.com

[trdcrdkid]

PSA is not accusing you of altering the card; they're saying that at some point in the past, somebody altered it. This wasn't necessarily done with a malicious intent to deceive; it could have been any number of innocuous things. For example, there's the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle on eBay that I posted a link to in the "Bearded Mickey" thread. PSA graded it "Authentic Altered" because some kid in the distant past drew/scratched a beard on Mickey. There was no intent to deceive anybody or make the card look better; quite the contrary.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202441317919?ul_noapp=true



Or look at this T206 Cobb that PSA also graded "Authentic Altered". If you look very closely at the top border, you can see that there used to be something written in pencil there, and that somebody subsequently erased that pencil marking, also taking out some of the black border. (It's a lot easier to see if you have the card in hand and look with a magnifying glass.) I'm 99% sure that this erasure is the "alteration" that got the card its grade. Now, it's good to know about that, but I, personally, am not too bothered by it, so I'm happy to have this card in my collection. Others may disagree, and that's fine.

[drcy]

You essentially got a PR1 as you expected.

According to my personal grading scale, an altered card is a Poor 1. And some poor cards are so beat up that PSA gives them an altered.

[Bigshot69]

By any chance was the card in question purchased in a screwdown holder?

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Bigshot69

By any chance was the card in question purchased in a screwdown holder?

I thought of that as a possibility too.

I think the OP needs to post pictures.

[doug.goodman]

Posting the card in question as a favor to the OP...