Posted By:
AnonymousIs it really a surprise that there are cards that have been altered and are being altered?
I've been collecting since the 1970's. I was a weekend warrior for about 10 years and was fortunate enough to own or see many incredible cards. My pre-war collection (at least 95% of it) paid for graduate school back when you could buy a t206 EX Cobb for a couple of hundred dollars and caramels were throw-ins) I no longer really am anything other than a very casual collector, there are other things that take up my time and money in life nowadays.
Artwork is not only altered, its outright often counterfeited. Heck a German museum about a week ago found out a 35 MILLION $ painting was a forgery. The Hermitage has a Rembrant that was attacked with a knife and acid - it took about 8 years to restore. If a Rembrant can be restored after acid then baseball cards can be made to look NM.
Personally I liked it when pre 1948 baseball cards were much less popular (and cheaper), but the times have changed and one of the drivers of that change is grading. And lets be straight here - the truth is that there are good graders and bad graders - there is no certification to obtain and its subjective. All of which lends itself to the temptation of altering the cards. Hate to break it to those that collect only high grade but I can tell you that when PSA first started, there were people going around and buying oversided cards of all types (not just pre-war). And they weren't buying them because they had an "oversized" card collection or were studying printing techniques of the early 20 century.
And even before that there were dealers who would openly speak about a card being able to be "made" NM - I can specifically remember a dealer discussing some E92's that I had that had generous borders - they were all about EX with no creases - he was telling me I was crazy for selling them for $10 each when I could "make" them NM and get maybe 20-30. I tried to get him to buy the cards but he wouldn't as "no one wants candy cards..." And over the last several years I can say that I've seen many caramel cards in auctions that are fairly high grades that I believe (not 100% but certainly more than a passing thought) I've seen or handled before and they weren't quite as nice as they are now.
Just as artwork has been altered through the years so have a decent amount of cards and the number will increase. So if you can live with that then buy the high grade pre-war cards, if not buy the books as its much cheaper 
And yes I would also add that mid grade cards get altered. I'll never forget a 1933 Goudey Ruth that I bought as part of a collection, looked vg with no creases...but after looking at it several times realized that the right border had been trimmed...and after measuring and further inspection proved myself correct 
I collected (and occasionally still look/read) because it was enjoyable....I find it hard to think that this thread and the subject in general is really enjoyable.