Should "W" Strip Cards Receive Numerical Grades?

There has been some debate about whether strip cards should receive numerical grades. Some think they should they all receive the authentic only ("AUT") because they were all handcut from a strip at one point. What do you think?

Vote and discuss....

I think I heard that SGC was going to stop giving them number grades.
I voted No, who knows when they were cut, 100 yrs ago or last week.

My opinion has always been that if a card was or has been hand cut at
some point, regardless of time period, it should only receive an "Auth" grade.

Tony

technically strip cards are trimmed as they have cut from originally issued format. I am much more impressed with an intact strip of cards than I am by a "W" card that would grade 98 recently cut from a vintage strip

Jay

I vote YES!!!!

I think all cards have been cut at some point. The cutter is just someone different, in the factory or at home, with a machine or a scissor, by an adult or a kid.

BTW, it doesn't matter that much, high-grade strip cards, even HOFers, don't command that much. Probably because most collectors know they are hand-cut. IMO, more than any other type of cards, eye-appeal is the difference in pricing with strip cards. So on that front, I don't think the grade is screwing around with the market much. Sure, there are guys with high grade strip cards that list them for thousands on ebay, but I don't think many (any?) of those sell.

I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with cards that were once cut by hand getting only an authentic grade, but I also don't trust the grading companies to know which cards were and weren't once cut from a strip. How many W575-1's have I seen that were never part a strip (the E121 blank backs--cards like Henry Johnson's only without the back stamp) being graded with the "HAND CUT" addition to the slab, when the cards were never hand cut.
-Rhett

Shouldn't there still be a way to account for the condition of W cards in the grade, despite the fact that they were cut from a strip at one time? Should strips with poor cuts/creases/wear like this Schalk really receive the same AUT grade as a nice clean straight cut one like this Alexander? Seems a little counter intuitive to me. How about a numerical grade with a "trimmed" qualifier?

If SGC ever ever wises up and starts using the same system they already have in place for comics, there wouldn't be a discussion about an AUTH grade. Unaltered cards get a green label. Altered cards get a red label. It's really not that hard.

Jay

A card cut from a strip by the end user is an altered card, and should get no numerical grade.
If cut by the manufacturer, it is no longer a strip card.

count me as for it, and I agree with King. Strip cards were meant to be cut, and therefore to do as was intended is not an alteration, IMO. If we were all 100% convinced that a strip card was cut 80 or 90 years ago, I doubt we would have any problem assigning it a numerical grade. The possibility that many were cut later does not make it any less worthy of a numerical grade. I believe the designation handcut is sufficient to alert the prospective buyer that his card may not have existed in this condition back in the 20's. By contrast, to label such a card as altered intones that there may have been recoloring, erasure, corner buildup--things more sinister and less desirable. To label it authentic does not apprise the buyer of much--I guess it assures him it's not a reprint or fake, but it does little to render an opinion about possible wrinkles or hardly visible defects that some may find important, and as noted, winds up lumping them all together. So giving it a number grade and acknowledging that it is handcut is good enough for me.

Strip cards were manufactured to be hand cut from a cheat, so I beileve all hand cut cards are consider trimmed (IMO).

How can you grade a card that's been hand cut? You don't, the grader can only determine if the card is ("AUT") and not a fake. Just knowing the strip is not fake should satisfy the buyer (W514 Joe Jackson)!

I still think most collectors would pay a premium for a good looking ("AUT") that looks mint!

Yes, buy the card, not the grade!!!