[benjulmag]

"A" grades can come about with no evidence of trimming or other alteration, other than the size of the card itself. For my tastes, I would value an undersized card with nothing else wrong with it higher than a card (undersized or not) with clear evidence of trimming. I would like to see the "A" grade amplified, by specifying the basis for the designation. That way the market will have more information to determine the card's value. I would also like to see the grading companies take provenance into account in deciding whether to grade an undersized card an "A". I know of instances of cards that came from collections where there was no reasonable likelihood of trimming (e.g., postwar cards Lionel Carter got straight out of the pack), that received "A" grades solely because they were undersized. In those instances, I think it would be okay for the grading company to give such cards numerical grades.