Vintage card - how do you know if they are trimmed?

natsturner · August 21, 2016 3:31AM

I'm relatively a novice at pre-war cards, but how do folks gain confidence in a card such as the one below not being trimmed? From what I understand, the cards didn't have a standard size necessarily back then and may have been hand cut.

http://catalog.scpauctions.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=30567 - for example, the left edge on this is super sharp as are the corners, but the right side isn't.

If there is content/info on old cards such as these that would be even more helpful if anyone can point me there. Another example I've heard of is the Honus Wagner T206 than Ken Kendrick owns that PSA encased as an 8 but later turned out to be trimmed by Mastro.

Let me know! Any help would be appreciated.

craig44 · August 21, 2016 12:27PM

The way I do it is first, get a few examples that are known to be untampered with. A few commons graded by psa. Then crack them out so you can view the edges. The key for me are the edges. Look at them under a loop. By the edge, I mean hold the card and inspect the grain of the cut. Vintage cards under magnification will not be smooth like a razor cut or any smooth modern techniques. If trimmed, most cards will also be very slightly thinner near the corners as the pressure needed to start the cut is greater at the beginning. So an untrimmed card should be the same thickness throughout the edge. A trimmed card will be slightly thinner near the corners. The borders, when looking at the front of the card may appear "bat eared" as well. Hope this helps