What Do You Consider Card Doctoring?

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Posted By: Al Simeone

I started dealing cards back in the early 80s. I would set up at alot of the east coast shows. One day around 1992 I was set up at a show and a very prominent dealer who dealt in very high end cards came up to my table and spied some cards I had in my case. One perticular card he wanted was a 34 goudey Gehrig I would have graded the card vg-ex had a very small crease upper left corner, rounded corners and a little off color. Well centered. A nice card . I found it odd that he would want this card as he always dealt in high grade high end,many of us at the time were suspicious that something just wasnt right about his cards. I will give his initials as (T.B) This person sold cards to MANY big clients. We came to an agreement on price.$600 for this card. Said he would be back at the end of the show to pay for it. I decided to mark the card in a way only I would know . Here is what I did I took a pin and on the back in the small round circle logo we pricked the card dead center. Very small but you knew it was there. End of the show ,comes back and buys the card. Two months later Im at an east coast national show, (TB) is also set up there. I say hello and start looking at his cards. In one of the cases there in a brick lucite is a 34 goudey gehrig. Wow a blazer!! sharp corners,snow white borders,NO CREASES,great color(looks like it just came from a pack!)I ask his helper if I can see the card,takes it out,and hands it to me. I say to myself this cant be my old card can it? I turn it over and there it is dead center in the logo that tiny pin prick I had made 2 months earlier. This card had re-built corners, bleached borders, re-colored front. (you have to remember this was before the days of black lights and good detection methods)Believe me you couldnt tell anything was up with this card. When he saw I had the card in my hand his response was " Oh that isnt the card you sold me" and quickly took it out of my hands. I walked away in total disbelief. That card sold at the show for 4600 dollars. Almost at that moment it changed my whole out look on the card industry. This story could go on much longer after threats to myself and family,after I did expose him for what he really was to many of the bigger dealers on the east coast. My point is Doctoring is subjective to wax,gum,tobacco,and other stains.The line is crossed when it becomes profit and greed driven. And as we all know the little hobby is no longer a hobby its big business.Grading companies may slow it down a little but as we know there is a new scam born every day. I still think back on the poor sole who purchased that card and wonder how many more items are just sitting in collections and the buyer has no idea its been altered.