Budget Grading Companies and eBay??

cheesewedge wrote:

GOTCHA! I can definately see your point. I hope I can do it without messing the card up. Are there any technics to cracking these cases that might help?

cheese

What I've been told is that you can take a pair of needle-nosed pliers and break off a corner of the slab. Then use a screwdriver carefully and pop it open.

Quan will give you the best advice though, since he cracks his slabs pretty regularly.

Quan is an expert so if he disagrees with my opinion then do what he says


First: Hold slab to be opened on a flat table with one corner hanging over edge, then take (Needlenose, visegrips) pliers and break off a small piece of corner. Any corner will do.

Second: Keep card on table and take a nice size flat head screwdriver and insert it into the broken corner and gently pry open slab while moving screwdriver along top edge, you will hear a crackling sound.

Third: While slab is coming apart slip your index finger and thumb of the hand holding the card down in to the open slab so it won't spring back as you are prying it.

Last: Keep slab steady on table so card inside won't jump and fall out of position. Once you went around most of the slab with screwdriver you should be able to just lift off top piece.


This is how i have always done it in the past with no problems.



Mark

Something just looks wrong with the card. The black is definately much darker and sharper. Do you have a picture of the back? Maybe there is more evidence one way or the other. Hopefully it's real, buy if it obviously isn't, might as well skip the grader and save your time & money .

Square_Frame_Ramly wrote:It was the best $10 you will ever spend since now you know. You could have spent thousands of dollars if the seller had a scarce card.

I absolutely agree Mark. I also forgot to mention that the holders were cheap and were cracked.

-Randy

many ways to carve a turkey, just do what you feel most comfortable.

i'm too weak to use a plier so i use the exacto knife all the way around...convenient for after cracking also when you want to trim the card down.

Here it is out of the slab and a bit better scan.



cheese

Any chance you can trim the scan and give a close up of the name? That will be a telling sign if the card is fake or not. If you know how to do it, turn the resolution up to 600-800 dpi. That will give a good strong image

Jay

Can't tell anything from that. Too fuzzy. Scan needs to be a higher resolution.

Jay

i resized it but they get fuzzy...i thought you wanted to look at lettering so i tried to make the letters come up.

IMHO....the borders look too white, the lettering looks ok but i am no expert.


Mark

I agree with pro9 (Elliot), the T206 Young looks authentic but trimmed. And that's the case with most CSA graded cards I've seen. True, it's hard to base an opinion on that scan alone, but I feel fairly certain in this case.

Still a very nice looking card that many collectors would be grateful to own.

sabrjay wrote:Any chance you can trim the scan and give a close up of the name? That will be a telling sign if the card is fake or not. If you know how to do it, turn the resolution up to 600-800 dpi. That will give a good strong image

Jay

How 'bout this??




cheese

fisherboy7 wrote:I agree with pro9 (Elliot), the T206 Young looks authentic but trimmed. And that's the case with most CSA graded cards I've seen. True, it's hard to base an opinion on that scan alone, but I feel fairly certain in this case.

Still a very nice looking card that many collectors would be grateful to own.

I agree. It will be a very nice card if proved authentic. It will NOT be a nice card if authentic and altered with the $900 price tag it took to get it.

cheese

cheesewedge wrote:I agree. It will be a very nice card if proved authentic. It will NOT be a nice card if authentic and altered with the $900 price tag it took to get it.

The card is without a doubt authentic. No worries there. And the close up scan is encouraging to me. At least there are no blatantly obvious signs of trimming/alteration (edges are very straight). It's a really nice card! But I'm standing by my previous statement that it's likely trimmed; still worth a shot submitting to PSA/SGC though (try PSA first).

i would inspect the bottom border closely...it's a nice card...don't think it's $900 nice for an authentic card so i'm pulling for ya.

the larger scan definitely points to it being legit. No obvious signs from the scan that it is altered either. You may have hit the jackpot in a CSA slab it SGC or PSA grades it.

Jay

Definitely a nice card, I also would look closely at the bottom edge, looks cleaner than the top edge. Can you get a scan of the back?

Good Luck with the grading,

Lee

bowlingshoeguy wrote:Definitely a nice card, I also would look closely at the bottom edge, looks cleaner than the top edge. Can you get a scan of the back?

Good Luck with the grading,

Lee

As requested. I also inverted the card on my scanner bed (trying another angle) and raised the resolution to 800 dpi for a better look at that bottom edge.





cheese

BTW... A BIG "THANK YOU" to everyone on your thoughts and input. I really do appreciate it!

cheese

The bottom edge looks a bit off (too clean of a cut compared to the top edge), but I think I'm just swayed by knowing it was originally in a CSA slab. If it grades, I'm guessing a 5 or 6, which would put you at a value of $1300+ for a 5.

Did you measure it?

That will give you a pretty good idea.

Should measure 1-7/16 x 2-5/8, use a digital caliper if you have one. They are pretty cheap on-line, it makes measuring a card so much easier.



Mark

Is there paper loss under "The" and above "cigarette" on the back? It looks like there is some on the left edge on back. Don't mean to rain on the parade but it appears to be there. By the way great scans.

Lee

Bottom edge looks trimmed, but I am swayed by it being in the CSA holder. Certainly worth a submission, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

besides the suspected trim job...card looks freaking NRMT, except for the back left edge border damage? that's a tremendous card!

I'm curious about how the submission will turn out. Please keep us updated!