Disclaimer: I am not accusing the seller of this card of any wrongdoing. I have dealt with them before and found them to be quality dealers on all fronts.
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While doing a search of various Hall of Famers on ebay today, I came across the following card on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1916-D303-Mother...3286.m20.l1116
At first glance, I thought that it was just a nice card from a very scarce set. I looked a little closer though, because I used to own a copy of this card as well.
When I opened the picture on the full page, I was shocked to discover this was the very same card I once owned - what shocked me even more, however, was that the card had been given a numerical grade. It is badly trimmed, and all three grading companies have told me so.
I bought this card in the mid 90's from the notorious Alan Hager. I was pretty new to vintage collecting, and I trusted anyone with a nice inventory of cards, which he certainly had. As I began to learn more about cards, and the world of alterations, I realized that I probably had a trimmed card on my hand. If you look at the top and bottom of the card, you will clearly see the trimming.
I decided to try and submit the card for grading, just to be sure (I had a fair amount of cash in the card, and I was hoping I was wrong). All three grading companies sent it back as trimmed (this was before trimmed cards were slabbed), and I decided to sell it. The last time I saw the card was today, in the SGC 30 holder.
--I am also certain this is my card. the chipping on the back left is the same my card had, and more importantly, so is the slight wrinkle on the bottom right corner. I am very familiar with this wrinkle because I am the one who put it there, trying to put the card into a top loader.
This is not meant as a bash on SGC - I think they are the best around, but everyone gets one wrong from time to time!