June pickups

[pcoz]

My June pickup was my May pickup but with a better grade. Got this in the REA auction & took it to SGC Fri. They popped it out for me & I removed the slight pencil on the back with a Mars eraser(thanks Leon!). They then regraded it and it went from a SGC 20 to a SGC 40!

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by pcoz

My June pickup was my May pickup but with a better grade. Got this in the REA auction & took it to SGC Fri. They popped it out for me & I removed the slight pencil on the back with a Mars eraser(thanks Leon!). They then regraded it and it went from a SGC 20 to a SGC 40!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

I highly recommend a Mars Plastic eraser for removing errant marks from cards. I don't consider it altering when you take something off that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Glad it worked. I have done it many times too. That being said I do leave some marks as they can add to the provenance and history (and even aesthetics) of the card, sometimes. I might start a thread about this topic.

[pcoz]

Originally Posted by Leon

I highly recommend a Mars Plastic eraser for removing errant marks from cards. I don't consider it altering when you take something off that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Glad it worked. I have done it many times too. That being said I do leave some marks as they can add to the provenance and history (and even aesthetics) of the card, sometimes. I might start a thread about this topic.

This was the second time I used that eraser and it worked well both times. I spoke with Scott & Earl at SGC regarding the pencil removal, and Leon they echoed your thoughts. They said the pencil wasn't on the card originally, and to extract it back off was not altering the card. I did it right in front of them. Also, I agree that leaving marks can add to the provenance and history. Aesthetically with the mark on the back and in faint pencil, it didn't take away from the card and was easy to remove. It's a really sharp card, and in my opinion(and now SGC) deserved a higher grade. Important for the provenance of this specific card is they kept the same serial # of the Mack, and updated the grade in their system. They are now starting to catalog the Old Put Cigars now in their database upon their request of me providing scans of the ones in existence. Leon, I hope it's ok I included yours in the email so they can start accounting for them. They are adding them as a subset to the E98's. The million dollar question which has been debated previously is are they a caramel or a tobacco issue. If they were never in caramels and just stamped by Old Put, the argument can be made of them being a tobacco issue. From their perspective, they're going in as caramels under E98's.