A sale of an expensive modern football card has been voided and a buyer may have avoided an expensive mistake.
Using a tip from a source that wasn’t identified, a collector posted video Sunday of a 2000 Playoff Contenders Tom Brady rookie autograph card that appeared to show the card had been altered.
The card had originally been graded 6 by PSA but appears to have possibly been cracked from its holder, altered and then submitted for regrading. It passed authentication again and was given a NM/MT 8 grade with an autograph grade of 9.
The card sold for $54,000 through Goldin Auctions Sunday night, hours after the video was posted. After being made aware of the likelihood that the card had been altered, Goldin announced Monday on Twitter that the sale had been voided and the card was being removed from the company’s auction results.
The video posted by Something Sportscards offered evidence the two cards were the same including matching Brady signatures and several small print flaws, some of which had somehow been concealed after the initial grade of 6 was awarded. With those edge and print flaws mitigated the card received a higher grade when it was apparently submitted again.
Beginning about three and a half years ago, a small group of collectors on the Blowout Cards message boards began revealing what turned out to be a large number of mostly vintage cards that had undergone similar and often more extensive alterations in an effort to achieve higher grades. Those cards typically sold for significantly higher values after being “doctored.” In the summer of 2019, attorney Jeff Lichtman indicated the FBI had begun investigating the sales of those cards and the history behind them but to date, no charges have been filed.
Related Stories:
Finds and Revelations: 2019 Sports Collecting Year in Review (Part I)
Altered Cards Update: Pre-War HOFers Impacted
Card Alteration Probe Hits USA Today
Collectors to Washington Post: We’ve Talked to FBI
Notes on the Card Doctoring Scandal
Editor’s Blog: List of Doctored Cards Grows; Today Show on MLB Authentication, More
PWCC: “Working with Law Enforcement, PSA” on Trimmed, Altered Cards
Editor’s Blog: Online Tools, Dogged Collectors Put Focus on Card Makeovers
