Another "improved" card...1914 CJ Johnson

[JollyElm]

My first thought would be that someone photoshopped the heck out of the picture of the card, but there are problems with that theory. Amongst many other things, the creases kinda squish the shape of his body and especially the face. Look how thin his countenance is in the first slab as compared to how squared it is in the second. With serious graphics skills, you could manipulate the picture to 'correct' it that way, but the amount of time and effort would be crazy (I won't even mention how much work would be involved in keeping the holder looking consistent and real) without any sort of true payoff (because the actual card wouldn't match the doctored picture in any way). I have perhaps another theory, but I am unsure how realistic it is, because I am not an expert on PSA's workings...

Say the person cracked the card out of the original slab (without doing too much damage to said slab) and went to town cleaning it, flattening the creases, etc., and was able to reinsert the card back into the damaged slab. Could he then have sent it back to PSA (not requesting a review or anything) to be simply re-slabbed, and therefore getting the same serial number?? Since the grade is so mediocre to begin with, I doubt the card would've been subjected to too much additional scrutiny, no? Absent anything else, that's really the clearest explanation.

[packs]

What makes you think the alterations to the image are that severe? To me it just looks like someone messed with the color saturation.

[perezfan]

99% chance it was removed, worked on, and replaced. All of the creases are far less severe, with the exception of the heavy diagonal crease, which remains identical (upper-right). Since the surface paper "broke", there wasn't much that they could do to repair/hide it.

So what's the telltale sign that it was removed and replaced? The card resides in a "baggie" within the slab. These "baggied" cards don't move around in the slab, even when vigorously shaken.

Now look at the positioning of the card within the slab. The card has moved significantly. It now sits much further to the right, and the slant has also changed. It had to have been cracked, worked on, and replaced without much tell-tale damage to the plastic. Perhaps the work would be more evident when examined in-person, vs. a flat computer screen.

In any event, I would shy away from this one.

[perezfan]

The flip is the same in both images...

Look at the little white dots above the "9" in 1914, and the second "C" in Cracker Jack. Same flip.

[luciobar1980]

Looks like it's been "pressed", which is commonly done with comics.

edit: hmm, but that doesnt make sense as it's the same holder... Card looks to be sitting very differently in the slab from the back scan. Odd.

[packs]

My eyes might be playing tricks on me but isn't the second image clearly dimmer than the first? It's the light that has changed, not the card. I'm pretty sure we're just looking at the color saturation being manipulated and nothing more.

[Rhotchkiss]

If it was reholdered, wouldn’t it be a new holder, even if it retained the old cert#? In other words, wouldn’t it have the colorful PSA logo in the top middle (maybe that’s the lighthouse?)