I have a pair of 1965 Anteojito cards of Pele and Ali. An Argentinean publishing company issued cut-out cards in a few of its monthly issues. Several of the cards are athletes, mostly locals, but Pele and Ali were included as the global icons that they are. Anteojitos are known to both soccer and boxing fanatics but finding them is a real chore; it took me years of scouring obscure sources to get them. None of the slabbers have graded any cards from the issue. Normally, SGC is my go-to with rare and obscure boxing. After SGC punted on a couple of semi-obscure issues, and not wanting to spend the tremendous cognitive effort it takes to get PSA to move their asses on anything out of the mainstream, I decided to take the cards to the National and go outside the Evil Empire and see if CGC would grade my Anteojitos.
Something really helpful that CGC had at the National was a grader on duty who would consult on potential submissions. Little in grading is more irritating than sending in a card and having it rejected and returned as ungradable for a reason that can be readily addressed with a little research, so this was a nice way of bypassing that situation. The CGC grader on duty said that they had no problem with the issue per se but recommended that I gather up and send them the research on the issue to help them. He also told me that the Pele could get a numerical grade because the cut lines were there but that the Ali would be an “A” at best because it was raggedly cut; I knew that already and was fine with it, I just wanted the card in a holder.
I gave them the cards and when I got home, I sent in a customer service inquiry about where to send the data. Another thing positive to say for CGC is that I got a clear, accurate response within 24 hours and after I sent in the data, an acknowledgment that the information I sent in had been received and would be passed on to the graders. It is a nice touch in an increasingly unresponsive industry.
The cards were graded accurately and returned on time. They look great.
I didn't even notice the bleedin' QR code; gonna have to try that...