A Grading Question

This has been a head scratcher to me for years. How can a punched out card with perforated edges come back graded as a Gem Mt 10? Isn’t the definition for a grade of 10 to have perfect crisp edges? I realize that this card has a 9.5 Edge subgrade but still, is that a realistic grade?

 

I remember when people started getting the 1996 SI Kids Tiger Woods cards graded it seemed like half of the hobby was flipping out because they felt that perforations are damage to the edge of the cards while the other half of the hobby were pointing out that punched cards need to be graded on a different scale because the cards are only available as sheets and to be removed they were going to have the perforations on the side and that the card edges should be graded without considering the perforations. Some people are even arguing that if perforations are fine than why are trimmed cards or cards cut from an uncut sheet (like the T206 Honus Wagner card) graded lower or even refused to be graded?

 

Personally I lean towards the “How can a perforated card be a 10?” side, it isn’t that I have a problem having them graded but they should be graded using different standards. We are talking apples and oranges here, why should a card pulled from a pack require a razor sharp edge for a 10 grade while a card ripped from a magazine can grade a 10 with perforations on all 4 sides?

 

I am just wondering because I came across a couple of punched cards graded pretty high with this Tiger leading the charge with a $35k BIN price tag.

 

A question I would like to toss out there:

If I were to purchase a raw Tiger Woods SI Kids card, trimmed the perforations and submitted it for grading should it be considered an altered card and rejected or should it be graded as pack fresh?

 

 

Agree? Disagree? Input? Where do you stand on punched cards getting a Gem Mt 10 grade?