Inspecting a card - the basics

 Alteration Overview

 Card Soaking

 Detecting bleached cards

 Detecting trimmed cards

 Card sanding

 Detecting a rebacked card

 Aging and toning

 Detecting recolored cards

Detecting rebuilt corners

 Reglossed cards

 Errors and oddities

 Other alterations

How-to:

  ID an altered flip

 Cleanly crack (open) a slab

A more popular flip design has a solid color border around the entire label and is somewhat plain in appearance. This style of flip has been around for many years and has been used by several different companies. For the purpose of this demonstration, a generic color border flip will be used. It has no relationship or relevance to any one particular company.

This entire label does not need to be created from scratch. The downfall is that is it very difficult (one step from impossible) for many expert collectors to detect, if done with skill and precision. It does require some specific knowledge, chemical formulas and a rather special printing technique and equipment.

How it is done:

Here is an example of a generic flip. This particular flip is brown but they can also be seen in other colors. Portions of the black print have already been removed.

A flip is removed from the graded holder and placed on a hard flat surface. After months of research, a mixture called "Formula X" was created in a lab and designed to remove only the black print, while have little or no affect on the colored borders. As one can imagine, the formula is a closely guarded secret.

		Once complete, the highly involved and complicated task of reprinting can be done. What makes this different from creating other flips is that this is made from factory stock and still maintains the original borders and any backing that may be there. Everything remains intact.
	To show just how close an altered flip can look, here is a comparison of two PSA flips. The one on bottom is an unaltered original. The top flip was made purposely using a common font included on many programs. It is the type frequently seen on altered flips and is showing up "regularly" on highly valued cards. As you can see, it's very close to the original. Collectors will need to get familiar with making the determination based on specific areas of concern. Aside from the letters and line spacing, here are a few things to look for on an original when making a comparison: The number "5" has a closed style end. The number "0" is much wider. The letter "G" (not shown) will be cleanly wrapped and not have a lined front. The "#" sign will have more of a slant.