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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Joe, I tend to agree with you in part, and wouldn't imply that a large percentage of altered cards are slipping past the grading services. I think SGC and PSA do a great job weeding out a lot of the "chop shop" type of alterations that happen out there. More sophisticated restoration work done by a professional may be more difficult to detect - I don't know, I'm not a grader - but I'd find it hard to believe that there's a professional restorer out there, working on EX-MT Gabby Street cards.

You're also correct in that any night of the week, there are dozens upon dozens of low-grade raw T206s on eBay. Many of those types of cards have never made it into slabs, and likely won't, because most are relatively plentiful and the value is such that grading fees are unnecessary.

Also important is the definition of "alteration", which is something that's been discussed here many times. Soaking gunk off the back of a card, to many, is not considered an alteration. Same goes with removing stuff that wasn't on the card in the first place (i.e. pencil marks). So perhaps due to the popularity of T206 in general, people are more likely to soak residue off the back of a card and get a 4, rather than a 1, to realize a higher selling price.

Who knows? I just find it interesting.

-Al