Trimmed card hypothetical with poll

[Peter_Spaeth]

Please answer honestly and don't fight the hypothetical. Just curious about the current state of thinking, not looking to pass judgment.

Suppose you have a card you either love, or value highly for another reason (such as the Registry). Suppose it would be fairly difficult to replace, you can't just go on ebay and buy another, or expect to find one in the next set of auctions. Suppose further that while it isn't obvious in hand, you are shown absolutely conclusive before and after evidence that it's been trimmed (or recolored). What do you do now? (Assume getting a TPG to compensate you is not a viable option, or that you already tried but failed.)

1. Sell ASAP with disclosure.
2. Sell ASAP without disclosure.
3. Keep it for now, but look for another one, and sell only if you find one.
4. Keep it because it's just not worth the effort to replace it, although your enjoyment of it will be somewhat diminished.
5. Keep it because at this point, you really don't care.
6. Something else that I didn't list.

[bbcard1]

I had a fairly recent similar situation. I got a good deal on a group of four Diamond Stars to upgrade my set. In hand, they were obviously significantly smaller than the cards in my set. There were also irregularities that led me to believe they were trimmed...slightly wavy borders, or at least it looked like that to me. I am aware that there are some irregularities on size with Diamond Stars, but four of four The seller refunded without any issue. A couple months later sent me back scans of the cards in SGC holders...graded 3s an 4s. While there is no denying the value once they were slabbed, I am just as happy I returned them as I am pretty sure they were trimmed, regardless of grader's opinion.

[B O'Brien]

I accidentally bought a trimmed Waddell card from GM auctions on eBay last year, as it wasn’t disclosed, but pretty evident once in hand. I sold it back on eBay with the disclosure and lost $200, so it’ll be a shittily gotten loss for the taxes! Unfortunately I sold a bunch of silver, to fund the backs line, with no records of what I paid for it, so going to get a messy W2 from eBay this year.

Hope the weekend is treating you right!
Bob

[swarmee]

Other: return to seller or attempt with PSA under grade guarantee.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

For me, I'd keep as a filler (if I had bought the card with the full realization it had been trimmed). Trimmed innocently by a kid 100 years ago vs. having been trimmed to deceive is a big difference for me.

[bnorth]

I went with other. I was extremely sad but it looked so amazing I kept it. Then many years later it was part of a very nice group of graded cards I donated to a local museum.

I never really got into grading at first so knew almost nothing about it. I bought what was by far the best looking 83 Donruss Wade Boggs rookie graded 10 I have ever seen to this day. The darn card looked perfect and I never really thought much about it. Then about 10-15 or so years ago I heard there was trimmed cards in slabs. Sure enough when comparing it to other 83 Boggs Donruss rookies I had it was small.

[Bored5000]

I went through this exact same situation a couple years ago with a 1900 Cope's Old Tom Morris golf card that was called out on Blowout as a Gary Moser trim job. I gave full disclosure and sold the card at a loss.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Option 5. If you love it, why would you stop loving because it's been trimmed or recolored?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Option 5. If you love it, why would you stop loving because it's been trimmed or recolored?

Because it's been trimmed or recolored.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Because it's been trimmed or recolored.

True love has no contingencies.

(At least that's what I'll tell myself as I stare at all my trimmed and recolored cards.)

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

I think recolored would bother me more than trim

[steve B]

I went with something else, although a couple other answers might work too.

My example is a really nice looking T206 Common. I sent it in to sgc years ago, and was sort of rushing to find likely looking ones to make the card count for a special.

Trimmed all 4 sides. And it's obvious when giving it more than a cursory glance.

Kept it, mostly because I'm usually a buy and hold sort of collector.

No reluctance, and not really looking for a replacement, but if a good deal on a replacement comes along maybe? I keep the rejection slips with the very few I've had rejected, when I move it along it will be with disclosure, and I'll probably end up with profit depending on exactly when I bought it, which I don't remember. If it's the kids selling it, hopefully they'll disclose the trim.

I have at least one other, a Delong in an Acucard slab. Says it's a 7, but it's trimmed. I keep it mostly because it's in an old odd slab, plus it looks pretty good.

[riggs336]

I recently bought three severely trimmed 1959 Bazooka shortprints (Ashburn, Banks, Colavito). They're not easy to find in a price range I can afford, so I'm happy to have them warts and all.

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Please answer honestly and don't fight the hypothetical. Just curious about the current state of thinking, not looking to pass judgment.

Suppose you have a card you either love, or value highly for another reason (such as the Registry). Suppose it would be fairly difficult to replace, you can't just go on ebay and buy another, or expect to find one in the next set of auctions. Suppose further that while it isn't obvious in hand, you are shown absolutely conclusive before and after evidence that it's been trimmed (or recolored). What do you do now? (Assume getting a TPG to compensate you is not a viable option, or that you already tried but failed.)

1. Sell ASAP with disclosure.
2. Sell ASAP without disclosure.
3. Keep it for now, but look for another one, and sell only if you find one.
4. Keep it because it's just not worth the effort to replace it, although your enjoyment of it will be somewhat diminished.
5. Keep it because at this point, you really don't care.
6. Something else that I didn't list.

Peter, to clarify, are you talking a graded card that was not properly graded? Or are you talking about a raw card? Or could the question be about both?

[Section103]

If a card is difficult to find and relatively important to my collection, there is ZERO chance I get rid of it before having a replacement in hand. While Im trying not to get bogged down in the details of the hypothetical, once I go to sell my current example; I do believe disclosure is the best path forward. What/how I disclose is fairly dependent on the details. I assume my statement would be along the lines of "while this card is graded numerically, I have reason to believe it has been altered as such." Just hard to know exactly what to say without knowing the details.

Anyway, I voted to keep but begin looking; but its really a mixture of that and disclose at sale.

[Neal]

I'd keep it and pretend that all is well

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

Peter, to clarify, are you talking a graded card that was not properly graded? Or are you talking about a raw card? Or could the question be about both?

Much more likely to be graded given the hypothetical that one is presented with before and after evidence, but question was not so limited.

[pawpawdiv9]

Trim doesn’t bother so much as I collect handcut cards
Keep till a upgrade if possible

[Exhibitman]

I voted "other" because there is no single answer.

I have trimmed cards in my collection that are rarities in any condition, so I am just happy to have them



I once danced with the devil and bought from PWCC. The PSA 7 card was trimmed and I sent it back and fought for a refund (they were not cooperative). That one wasn't worth keeping even though it was rare. I suppose for me it is all about what I bought. If I bought a PSA 7 and it is trimmed, I got ripped off. I paid a premium for PSA's eye and if they screwed it up, I don't want the card.

[Snowman]

Depends on whether or not the trimmed card is noticeable in hand for me. If it clearly looks trimmed or measures small, then I'd keep it for now and start looking for an upgrade. But if the edges all look correct under magnification and it measures within specs, I probably wouldn't care if someone unearthed a photo of it having been oversized in its prior life and I'd just keep the card.

[Leon]

I voted to sell asap with disclosure (unless it's super rare and I need it, then I keep it). No need for a trimmed card..
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