1952 Topps Mickey Mantle: Input Appreciated

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by jayshum

It actually says Trimmed on the flip. I don't remember seeing that before. When did PSA actually put a reason for an Authentic grade on the flip or do they still do it depending on the reason?

Older slab. On some of them with big cards they would do things like that, putting "trimmed". Today I think that would just be Authentic Altered.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Older slab. On some of them with big cards they would do things like that, putting "trimmed". Today I think that would just be Authentic Altered.

Thanks. It would be nice if there was some way they could do that still since there are some cards graded Authentic Altered where it is not obvious what the reason is for the grade, and most of the time, the seller doesn't know either.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Thanks. It would be nice if there was some way they could do that still since there are some cards graded Authentic Altered where it is not obvious what the reason is for the grade, and most of the time, the seller doesn't know either.

PSA at least says "Altered." SGC will only grade something an A, which means it may or may not be altered. Sometimes A slabs with them and I think the card is not altered per se, but is in like a "below poor" grade because of missing pieces or integrity issues - but they do not come out and say it.

I've said for a long time that grading would be a lot more informative if cards could be sent back either with manual notes or notes that could be entered into a database tied to a serial number. That way you could get some sense as to what the grader was thinking at the time. This of course is a practical impossibility today however with the slab-mills that grading companies have turned into and in consideration of the fact that they may allot you all of 30 seconds of their time on an expensive card. They are already months and months behind in many cases in turning around orders grading in that fashion. So, I have little hope of grading becoming somehow more informative in the near future.