"The Scandal" Turns 3

[Flintboy]

Originally Posted by robw1959

Although nothing has changed in the hobby with regard to buying and selling, I think many buyers may still be looking more closely at graded cards, especially PSA cards. I know I do. I do think PSA has adopted a more rigorous grading process to earn that public trust back again, but that's about it.

You’re kidding right?

[ullmandds]

I admit I was wrong...I thought for sure somebody would pay a big price/do some jail time.

If that didn't derail the hobby I'm not sure anything can?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

I admit I was wrong...I thought for sure somebody would pay a big price/do some jail time.

If that didn't derail the hobby I'm not sure anything can?

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last

yes...john barleycorn MUST DIE!!!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

yes...john barleycorn MUST DIE!!!

The "three men" are the BODA guys, I think.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The "three men" are the BODA guys, I think.

haha...good one!

[Stampsfan]

The scandal may not even be known to folks who were not in the hobby three years ago, of which I think there are many.

[edhans]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last

Love it! My favorite Traffic tune.

[Snowman]

Ironically, the 52 Mantle that started it all wasn't even altered. It was just soaked in water.

I've been saying since the beginning that nobody is going to be prosecuted for any of this. Not even the most egregious of trimmers. I can just imagine a criminal trial where some guy is accused of trimming cards, sending them off to a 3rd party to have them graded, having those grades come back as 10s, and reselling them for a profit. I think people in this hobby seem to have a difficult time wrapping their heads around the fact that to the rest of the world, this is an absolute nothing burger.

I wouldn't even care if a card in my collection was trimmed unless it presents as clearly having been. I have a centered 54 Topps set. There's a ton of variance in size with these. Are some of them trimmed? Maybe. Perhaps even probably. But I couldn't tell you which ones if so, and neither could anyone else. As long as they look right and measure to within the tolerance of specs, then I'm happy.

Someone from the Blowhard forums contacted me outside the forum after reading some of my comments on the topic a couple years back. He claimed to have sent hundreds of trimmed cards to both PSA and BGS and said he has never had a single card get rejected for it. I don't know how true that is, maybe the guy was just trolling me or trying to get a rise out of me? I don't know. Although, I have pack-pulled cards falsely get rejected as "trimmed" probably at least 1% of the time), But I wouldn't be surprised if what he claimed was mostly true. I just don't see how it's possible to detect that 1/128th of an inch has been trimmed off of a modern card that already has super sharp edges to begin with.

I highly doubt the investigation is still ongoing. I think the FBI probably saw this as a bunch of collectors mad at other collectors for doing things to their cards that they don't approve of. Basically, I think they view it as a small group of bitter septuagenarians and a handful of millenial cancel culture heroes with nothing better to do than to try to cancel people for not following the unwritten "rules" of the hobby. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those FBI agents are now trimming cards for a little extra cash lol.

As far as my buying behavior goes, it hasn't changed much for me. I'm more aware of how widespread it is now, so I keep an eye out for cards that look obviously trimmed, but other than that, it has no effect on my collecting habits. If anything, I think it has pushed some of the Blowhard junkies away from perfectly good cards. All those conspiracy theory enthusiasts at Blowhard now think every edge of every card that gets posted has been trimmed. It's absolutely hilarious reading some of those threads. And despite the fact that it gets pointed out multiple times in every thread that card sizes vary significantly direct from the manufacturer, somehow all of these clowns still think that all you need is a ruler to catch a trimmed card.

This will not bring about any changes to the hobby. Nobody cares. Or rather, not enough people care.

[Johnny630]

I've been saying since the beginning that nobody is going to be prosecuted for any of this. Not even the most egregious of trimmers. I can just imagine a criminal trial where some guy is accused of trimming cards, sending them off to a 3rd party to have them graded, having those grades come back as 10s, and reselling them for a profit. I think people in this hobby seem to have a difficult time wrapping their heads around the fact that to the rest of the world, this is an absolute nothing burger.

Snowman agree it’s rich people who have been getting conned who really cares….it’s obviously the government doesn’t. Trimmers alterers will never be prosecuted, never, won’t happen, to hard to prove. It’s the wild Wild Wild West in this hobby always has been and always will be…you have to be informed if you aren’t Shame on you. All the info is out there. Mastro didn’t go to jail for trimming it was shilling. Card doctors will continue to thrive they still set up at shows, buy from most major actions auction houses, (who cares if they pay, AH doesn’t, they take their business I would to if they pay, they haven’t been convicted of anything, just shady allegations which is large percentage of this hobby anyway)consign, and walk the floor of all major shows.

Now I hear about from a collector the he has an account with PWCC..he stated he is getting 1% monthly interest on a capital loan against portfolio w free vault storage. What the hell is this ?

The rich get richer the poor get poor and middle pay more and spend less. The FOMO is over....

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

I've been saying since the beginning that nobody is going to be prosecuted for any of this. Not even the most egregious of trimmers. I can just imagine a criminal trial where some guy is accused of trimming cards, sending them off to a 3rd party to have them graded, having those grades come back as 10s, and reselling them for a profit. I think people in this hobby seem to have a difficult time wrapping their heads around the fact that to the rest of the world, this is an absolute nothing burger.

Snowman agree it’s rich people who have been getting conned who really cares….it’s obviously the government doesn’t. Trimmers alterers will never be prosecuted, never, won’t happen, to hard to prove. It’s the wild Wild Wild West in this hobby always has been and always will be…you have to be informed if you aren’t Shame on you. All the info is out there. Mastro didn’t go to jail for trimming it was shilling. Card doctors will continue to thrive they still set up at shows, buy from most major actions auction houses, (who cares if they pay, AH doesn’t, they take their business I would to if they pay, they haven’t been convicted of anything, just shady allegations which is large percentage of this hobby anyway)consign, and walk the floor of all major shows.

Now I hear about from a collector the he has an account with PWCC..he stated he is getting 1% monthly interest on a capital loan against portfolio w free vault storage. What the hell is this ?

The rich get richer the poor get poor and middle pay more or spend less. The FOMO is over....

Great points!

Doctoring or altering a card you own is in no way, shape, or form a crime in and of itself. And neither is submitting such an altered card to a TPG for grading. And the TPGs only give their "opinions" on graded cards, and among all of them have no consistent, standardized, and agreed upon grading standards. And supposedly they don't disclose exact reasons for given grades to submitters, nor keep grader's notes and records. If ever hauled into court, there is no detail to point to, and given the volume of cards they grade, they can honestly say they most likely can't remember any one specific card.

A card doctor submitting altered cards to TPGs and getting them passed and into numerically graded slabs is akin to a form of legalized money laundering. It's almost a perfect, what should be illegal, business. Kind of reminds me of an old saying by an anonymous hooker, "You got it, you sell it, you still got it. What a business!!!"