are short t-206's common? either length or width

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Posted By: marty

was wondering if sgc or psa even would grade one short?, also another question, if an oversized card is trimmed down to perfect size, (no wave) can sgc or psa detect this? i know the edges would show what would appear to be a fresh cut, but if the card meets the size standard could it still pass?

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Posted By: Fred C

Marty,

That's a good question. There's a lot of T206 experts here. I know a little bit about the T206 cards. The AB (American Beauty) cards are a little more narrow than others. My understanding is that this was due to the product packaging (way back when).

Now on to the grading part of the quesiton. Technically, PSA (and other graders) are not supposed to provide a numerical grade for a trimmed card. The whole idea behind third party grading companies is to provide the best unbiased (expert) opinion about the card. As you've heard grading is supposed to be subjective. Sometimes subjectivity goes out the door for special collectors or special cards. The bottom line is that the grading companies do tend to stick to a minimum size requirement/criteria for most cards. If it's blatantly obvious the card is trimmed they will, at best, provide an AUT (authentic) designation for the slab label. Now, if you submit to PSA and your name happens to be McNall, Gretzky or Harris, then they will bend the rules for you.

Bottom line is that the grading companies are fairly good at detecting trimmed cards. If you know the card is trimmed and you can live with the AUT designator then you'll be fine. If you try and slip one by expecting a numerical grade then you may be disappointed (unless your submitting to PSA and your last name is McNall, Gretzky or Harris - and probably a few others).

Sorry to turn this into a PSA bash thread, but it will always bother me that PSA has muddied the grading waters with their pompous attitude.

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Posted By: Fred C

If the card meets the minimum requirement and the grading company thinks it's trimmed it probably will not get a numerical grade.

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Posted By: peter ullman

marty...i have had scg refuse to grade 2 of my t206's due to minimum size requirements...but there is no way they are trimmed. As with most prewar cards...there are size discrepancies...besides am beauty. the old school paper cutters that were used to cut t/e cards are not used anymore and produce a different type of edge which should be detectable. here are my cards that were too short.

pete

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Posted By: Paul S

Peter, I have a few T206s (never sent for grading) that seem short like that -- on all mine, it's the bottom cut that always looks close to the name/team.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

It would make sense that if there are oversized T206s, there would be legitimate undersized ones. And there are oversized T206s.

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Posted By: steve

Over the years looking at the T206's, I personally stay away from any card that looks small (small amount of wite on boarders) - I don't care if its in a PSA/SGC slab - if it looks small, I don't want it.

I like nice big white boarders.

Big white boarders !
Big white boarders !
Big white boarders !

Too many nice ones out there to purchase a suspect card, even if its in a slab. Occassionally, I see a PSA T206 and think, "how could that skimpy boarder card make its way into the slab."

Just being real cautious. Others probably see the same thing, and the cards undoubtedly get less than good price upon selling.

steve.

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Posted By: Mike

Marty,

You may also find that SGC will return a "SML" designation - "does not meet minimum size requirements". Not sure if that determination comes before or after the decision of trimming or not (the former makes more sense, but who am I to say).

At this point, I've only had an E90-1 come back that way. Just another data point.

--
Mike