check edges
Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but with any raw card that nice (and it is), always check the edges with a loupe--they should be relatively rough, since the original sheets were cut by a shearing process in stacks. Really sharp, clean edges on cards from this era indicate they have been trimmed (even if they measure properly, since my understanding is that they can be run through a paper press and made slightly larger, then cut back to proper size). Prior to professional grading really taking hold in the mid-'90's, we had a dealer in my area who specialized in altering mid-grade cards in that fashion, so that other than an examination of the edges under magnification, they appeared NMt-Mt. After purchasing a few such cards, submitting them for grading and having them returned as trimmed, I learned the hard way to always check edges on ungraded material. Indeed, it was not uncommon for dealers at major regional shows and/or the Nationals in the '90's to do so with a loupe before buying ungraded specimens brought in by collectors for sale.
Hope this is of benefit,
Larry
Last edited by ls7plus; 04-04-2011 at 07:05 PM.
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