Home› Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum

Trimming--whats the point?

bigfischebigfische Posts: 2,252 ✭✭
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
First of all this post has nothing to do with any recent purchase, i was just bored last night at work and it made me wonder what trimmiers are trying to accomplish when they trim a card.
I mean if it is to make the card look better centered, you would think they would have to take off enough so that it would be pretty easily noticed, by graders and collectors alike.
Second (and the only one that makes any sense to me) would be to fix some edge damage. Yeah this one make sense but i was also going through some raw cards and it seems edges, at least on the cards i was loking at, were the least likly part of the card to get damaged when compared to corners and surface areas.
Third would be the corners, which also makes sense but to do it i would think you would have to trim two connecting edges to get rid of the corner damage which i would think would leave you again with a card that is fairly noticable because it will be short and skinny.
I guess i just dont get it, maybe im an idiot or just too naive, but aside for minor edge damage it doesnt seem like someont trimming a card is a feasable fix to defects. And nearly every card that is an older star card that is raw or in a pro/gem holder is assumed to be trimmed(at least that seems to be the case), so have a lot of people bought these cards and they came back trimmed? Or is it just assumed they are trimmed because of the holder or lack of holder they are in? sorry for the multiple questions and rampling post but i had to throw it out there.
My baseball and MMA articles-
http://sportsfansnews.com/author/andy-fischer/

imagey

Comments

  • shagrotn77shagrotn77 Posts: 5,616 ✭✭✭✭
    There's HUGE money to be made in trimming a card and getting it by the graders at one of the big grading compaines, mainly PSA. Card doctors and other scumbags of the like don't need much more incentive than that.
    "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. Our childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When we were insolent we were placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds - pretty standard really."
  • cmokingcmoking Posts: 195
    I think it is safe to assume any high grade card in a PRO or GEM holder is trimmed, altered or way over graded. The reason is that someone went out of their way to get the card in a holder, so why go to PRO or GEM when they can go to PSA and SGC and get a lot more money for it? Only an idiot or complete novice would use PRO or GEM legitimately. So that leaves out the non-idiots and non-novices who uses them to get a grade on a card that is not deserved.

    I would not make that assumption on raw cards. I think there are plenty of nice raw cards that are unaltered - the majority of them. But I would be suspcious of a really nice looking one in NMish condition if it is an expensive card. I'd check carefully on the seller and the reason it hasn't been graded. For example, if a seller on ebay sells many PSA graded cards, but in one of his auctions has an ungraded Mantle, then I'd be suspicious. On the other hand, if a seller on ebay only sells ungraded cards, I would still be concerned with a Mantle due to the price of the card, but be a lot less concerned with a lesser star, say a Kaline. But even when comfortable, it is still a higher risk buying ungraded cards. With that said, graded cards can be trimmed as well, even those in PSA holders.

    As for why people trim cards: the main reason is obviously to sell it for more money than the card deserves pre-trimmed. I do not think they trim to get the card better centered. I think most trim jobs are done to sharpen up a corner.

  • bigfischebigfische Posts: 2,252 ✭✭


    << <i>There's HUGE money to be made in trimming a card and getting it by the graders at one of the big grading compaines, mainly PSA. Card doctors and other scumbags of the like don't need much more incentive than that. >>




    yeah but what the heck defect would they be trimming off, I realize they do it to get the grade but i just dont get what the would be trimming off.
    My baseball and MMA articles-
    http://sportsfansnews.com/author/andy-fischer/

    imagey
  • shagrotn77shagrotn77 Posts: 5,616 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>yeah but what the hell defect would they be trimming off, I realize they do it to get the grade but i just dont get what the would be trimming off. >>



    Here's your answer...



    << <i>I do not think they trim to get the card better centered. I think most trim jobs are done to sharpen up a corner. >>

    "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. Our childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When we were insolent we were placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds - pretty standard really."
  • Ladder7Ladder7 Posts: 1,221 ✭
    Sharpens corners, cleans edges and evens borders. Translates into big dividends.
    some cards
  • originalisbestoriginalisbest Posts: 5,965 ✭✭✭✭
    I would agree with cmoking's position - esp. re certain "off brand" holders. I had a Tris Speaker T206 in one at one time, very likely was trimmed, but I was too much a novice to have known any better. Felt very fortunate I was able to get my money back!
Sign In or Register to comment.