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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

With due respect to Bruce, I don't think the problem is going to be resolved by private lawsuits or law enforcement. For one thing, the whole subject matter of what constitutes alteration, as Greg points out, is too subjective. For another thing, even in areas that aren't so gray, noone is going to ADMIT they trimmed or recolored cards or rebuilt corners or took out big ugly creases (looking here for examples of alterations that noone would defend as acceptable), and anyone accused of selling an unacceptably altered card is going to have any number of excuses at his disposal to any charge of intent, including most powerfully that a third party grading service generally accepted in the industry didn't see the problem. Plus there is the added layer of complexity that with the ever increasing prevalence of auction houses, the people doing the best job of doctoring cards aren't the ones selling them.