Modern Card Question: Short card

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Posted By: Marc S.

Hello:

I apologize for posting an item that is not about vintage baseball cards. I realize that that is the basis of this forum, but I wanted to post this question, as I believe that there is extensive knowledge on this board about card size and card alterations .

A close collecting friend of mine recently acquired a 1963 Topps card. The card is of a Hall of Famer, and it has been professionally graded.

However, my friend measured this card, and has found it to be short 1/16 of an inch from left to right. Does anyone have extensive experience with 1963 Topps cards? If so, have they seen any variation in card size? Was there ever any slight variation found in card size between the regular and the presentation sets?

I would consider my friend to be fairly well-versed in detecting trimming and other card alterations. I believe that he was one of the many collectors who was burned by slight alterations (primarily trimming) that seemed to plague the ungraded card hobby back in the late 1980s. Since then, he has a very good handle at knowing many of the tell-tale signs of trimming. I have received his assurances that this card does not show any of the signs typically associated with trimming.

The grading company that has graded this card is, in fact, PSA. They awarded this card a GEM MINT 10 grade. We all are aware that PSA has made mistakes over time, but in this case it appears that they did not find anything wrong with this card. I am most surprised that this card (even if it was factory cut short) did not receive the "Did Not Meet Minimum Size Requirements" that PSA will often put on factory-short cards.

So, I think I am looking for advice. Does anyone have any good experience with this issue? Is it reasonable to think a card may be 1/16" short and still receive a PSA 10 GEM MINT grade? Is there any additional tests/observations that can be made to determine if the card was trimmed at any point?

Thank you for any advice.