T206 Red Cobb SGC 60/Altered? on eBay

[botn]

Well you asked and I am never short on words. I tried to condense this to something you could read quickly but I was not able to. For those who care to delve deeper…

The card was being purchased for my personal collection. I have dismantled my collection more times than I can count but have always gravitated to Cobb, Wagner and Jackson (Joe that is), along with certain Brooklyn Dodgers’ cards when I rebuild it. I have never had a T206 Cobb in my collection as my focus was generally on the more exotic issues. Visually, the SGC 60 had what I considered to be outstanding eye appeal, which is something that is very important to me. The card presented as NM, maybe better in the scan, not taking into account the obvious corner irregularity which I had concluded was nothing more than a flipped corner, which I have seen on many issues.

Prior to bidding I asked Leon, who referred me to Scott, if the corner was creased or bent from the front, as it appeared there was an impression, but it was simply the scan (which is the same scan I am using for my ebay listing). I acknowledged to them I was aware of the corner flaw, and playfully referred to it as a “hanging chad.” Scott examined the corner with a loupe and told me there was no wrinkle or crease, only some wear. Looking back maybe I should have expected him to notice the corner was detached as I did when I used a loupe to examine it. I certainly never thought to ask the question based on what could be seen in the scan as it appears the loose piece was only severed at the bottom. Dunno, maybe he too never thought to look at the corner with consideration of it being altered. Anyway, I was good to go. Thought to myself, “NM on the front EX on the back due to the flip makes this a sold EX card.”

I won the card for a strong price but an EX which is that nice is well worth the premium. Upon getting the card I did not like the way the corner looked and decided to loupe it and instantly saw the corner was severed circumferentially and could only be hanging on by a few fibers of paper, at best, which I just did not see as plausible. When it comes to the cards I retain in my collection I am hyper vigilant about their passing my scrutiny of not only being worthy of the grade but not having been messed with. Ask those who know me what I have done to cards I have purchased for my collection that have turned out to be altered. I would be happy to share a picture or two.

To make a short story longer, I contacted SGC immediately after having examined the card. Sean told me to send it in and told me a very upstanding submitter sent the card to them and it was crossed over from a GAI 6.5. VCP has only one record of a GAI 6.5 selling, which I believe was back in 2006. I forwarded Leon the email string with Sean as I thought he should know what was going on. I never asked Leon or even intimated that I felt he should take the card back. He was not the person in SGC’s grading room to make the decision to place it in a holder. I will not go repeat the content of our emails without Leon’s permission but I did feel his responses were a little defensive or hands off but maybe I misinterpreted them. My issue was not with Scott or Leon. In my book, liability transfers to a grading company once they put their name on it. After all they are the ones who offer guarantees.

I have never had any luck in cards being bought back from grading services though I know they have, just not any of the ones I present to them. I reluctantly sent the card to Sean. And as I expected prior to sending it in, the card came back as having graded properly and SGC stood behind the graders' assessment.

I have not examined the card outside the holder as that would void any possibility of the “guarantee”. Have done that far too many times already and I would be happy to provide scans of those cards too. The Cobb is far too obvious an example of an altered card just based on the back corner. I am also uncertain if the card had been trimmed as it is smaller than usual and measures 1/16th of an inch smaller, however I know cards vary in size and could not determine as much without breaking it out. This was less of an issue for me given the severity of the back corner issue. It is a Catch 22. You have to break a card out to determine if it is altered but then once you prove it you have voided your guarantee. So what good is the guarantee?

Prior to listing the card on ebay I did ask Sean twice if he could have someone there submit the card to PSA and if it graded EX I would reimburse them for all the fees and issue an apology. He did not want to take me up on the suggestion.

I have put the card out for what I paid for it disclosing what I feel is wrong with it and do not think I have diminished its value in any way as SGC has after all, seen the card twice and agrees with their assessment. Until I start GDS grading and steal their market share I would say their opinion carries far more weight than mine. Not just here on this board but the hobby in general.