SGC Grading Question: Slight paper remnants on back of card

[Brent G.]

For those with experience in this: For this scrapbook pull of a 3-1/4 by 5-3/8 in. vintage card, will SGC typically assign a number grade if there are slight paper remnants on the back, or is it an automatic Authentic? Does paper addition make it "altered" by definition?

Appreciate any insight!

[Vintagedeputy]

Can you soak it?

[Brent G.]

I've never done it -- I wondered if it was a candidate for Leon's warm distilled water & Q-Tip rub method I saw on a thread a while back. I just have no experience in the process and don't want to damage the thing.

[BobbyStrawberry]

IIRC I've seen cards with remnants like this given number grades by SGC. I don't know that they have a consistent policy about it.

[Brent G.]

Thanks, Matthew -- and yeah, the lack of a stated Authentic policy on their site is pretty strange.

[perezfan]

SGC doesn’t even know themselves. Could grade “authentic” on a Tuesday and a “3” on a Friday. Just depends on which grader you happen to get and what mood he’s in at the moment. Luck of the draw and not much more.

Just be aware that if you do get a lucky grade, they’ll probably hit you up for more money.

[JollyElm]

(I am literally speaking for everyone.)

Come on, man, show us what card it is!!!!

[Brent G.]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

(I am literally speaking for everyone.)

Come on, man, show us what card it is!!!!

HA -- yeah, my bad: It's a 1934 Indianapolis Indians of Frank Sigafoos, he of the American Association record 39-game hitting streak in '33 and maybe the squarest jaw you’ll ever see. Grateful that a fellow member was willing to part with it.

Really hoping SGC can determine if it was a Gold Medal issue, whether it was just printed at the same facility, or whatever the origin may be. Perhaps that’s expecting too much …

[Brent G.]

I also picked up this 1933 AP photo of Frank recently that ran during the streak and an auto.

A part of his story that I love is that during the offseason, he worked in my hometown for the first gas company in Indiana, then full time after he retired from baseball. When he died of a heart attack while mowing the lawn in 1968 (those damn old rotary mowers), the company started a scholarship in his name for high school baseball players.