Grading of Hand Cut Cards with Borders
 

Unfortunately, we are presently experiencing technical issues when trying to use the search function, so I thought I may as well give these thoughts their own thread. I am sure it's been a matter of debate around here many times over.

A couple of people recently mentioned in another thread that they had great success in re-trimming hand cut cards after cracking and resubmitting. One person mentioned Hostess panels. Good for all of you.

What are everyone's thoughts on this:

Let's say you have a strip card, or a Hostess, Post, Jell-O, etc. wherein the entire card is complete. Extra border beyond the lines, all the way around the perimeter. To me, the only part of that card that the grader should be grading is within those borders. There could be writing outside the border, soiling, tape, staining, paper loss. You name it, and it should not affect the grade of the card itself. Outside of those four lines is fair game and can easily be trimmed off by anyone willing to try, and nobody considers it verboten. Why, then, not only grade the card portion? Oh, wait. Money. Re-sub.

Naturally, the hills would be alive with the smell of hypocrisy if I had a nice, fat '62 Post or Hostess panel in hand and a sharp pair of snippers to turn a 7 into a 9. I understand. :)

They should all just grade "AUTH" regardless of how they are cut. Let the collector decide how nice it is (or isn't). Don't give these idiot TPGs the unwarranted power to make random knee-jerk decisions that impact YOUR cards.

The current situation is fraught with discrepancies and people who are frothing at the mouth to "beat the system". If it's hand-cut, it should simply grade "authentic".

That's exactly what they do with all B18 Blankets... AUTH is the only grade they get, so why does PSA crap out yet another double-standard?

Don't Get Cheated.

I agree.

I like Wheaties panels. But I know most of the graded Wheaties panels have been trimmed. Those borders are way too neat and crisp to be cut in the 1930s. It's even worse when the panels are missing the border. Here's an example of a Lou Gehrig. I wonder if it would get trimmed. Regardless of the big tear on the right, look at the cut line around the orange band along the edge. That's what a kids cut job should look like!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6e75407172.jpg

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