Is there a difference between a PSA 1 and PSA "authentic"

[ullmandds]

Much to my chagrin...this card recently was graded at sgc and came back A...it has heavily worn corners...but is unaltered.

[GoldenAge50s]

My recent submission of 15 T206 cards to SGC had 3 come back as "A". All were close to 1/8" short T-B and were NOT altered by anyone--just factory -cut a bit shorter than allowed by SGC standard tolerance.

In fairness to SGC, I knew these 3 were short when I submitted and to their credit they caught them all.

In my 136 card purchase of original one-owner T206's back in Dec there were 6 cards that were cut short straight from the factory--about 4%.

I wouldn't doubt that 4% might be a standard miscut rate for original T206's.

Would anyone care to confirm or deny that figure?

[Exhibitman]

I've had cards that SGC would not grade numerically even though they are fine because they had too much damage. I've acquiesced to the "scarlet letter" just to get the cards into slabs to protect and display them.

[drc]

In my opinion, a card that has been altered is a grade of Poor. The grading companies have chosen to say an altered card can't receive a grade (other than Authentic). I don't have a problem with that.

Collectors of autographed cards often don't ask for grade for the card itself, even when the card is fine. They are concerned about the autograph not the card grade. In these cases, it is possible for a Near Mint card not to have a grade-- just an Authentic for the autograph.

But, in general and for non-autographed cards, Authentic usually indicates the card is altered, has something majorly wrong with it (ala so worn and torn only 70 percent of the card is there) or the graders are unfamiliar with card. An example of the latter is a newly discovered card where no one is sure how it was cut by the factory-- maybe like a stamp or decal or felt or something. As the submitters have some say if the card gets the Authentic grade, it can also involve the taste of the card owner. For whatever reason, a card owner may prefer an obviously beat up and marked card receive receive an Auth rather than a Poor. Of course, no card owner is going to ask his Mint card receive an Auth rather than a 9. As already said, a Mint looking card in an Auth holder means it's altered.

[Jay Wolt]

PSA-1's & SGC-10's don't always go for higher $ then slabbed authentic cards.

Here's an example below, I assume most would pick the authentic version, I would even if priced a bit higher.

[Robextend]

The "A" is clearly much more presentable; however I am one of those weirdos that have an issue with altered cards. Unless the card was near impossible to obtain numerically, I would try and go for a "number" graded card.

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Robextend

The "A" is clearly much more presentable; however I am one of those weirdos that have an issue with altered cards. Unless the card was near impossible to obtain numerically, I would try and go for a "number" graded card.

Rob, you aren't a weirdo and you are definitely in the majority. I remember a thread or poll 4-5 years ago asking members if they preferred authentic and sharp looking albeit trimmed cards or hammered SGC 10s and PSA 1s and most favored the numbered examples. I remember posting that I felt that in the future the slightly trimmed but beautiful caramel and tobacco cards would exponentially increase in value and pull ahead of the 10s and 1s but hardly anyone agreed. I still think this is going to happen one day.