A really quality alteration should still be detectable. The Philatelic foundation (One of the authenticators for stamps) showed a collection of alterations they'd caught. I'm pretty good at spotting that stuff on an item in hand, but most of what they showed I'm not sure I'd have caught.
But then, I only looked for the same few seconds graders at the grading companies do.
And that's the problem. A quick inspection won't catch any thing but the simplest alterations. Philatelic foundation etc can take months, but they are seldom wrong. And the more money is involved, the slower they are.
As far as I know getting a rebuilt corner past a blacklight wouldn't be all that hard.
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