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

Toning is the color given by the natural aging process. It can be light tan or depending on the cardstock, darker in color. Other times it can show as a gray/tan color. Toning or the lack thereof is the single most important item to look for when examining a card for alterations. Most, it not all vintage cards have some degree of toning and is best displayed on the edges or in the tiny edge-border chips and nicks left from a factory cut of a card.

Retoning a card or sections of a card can also be done after other alterations have been completed. Doctoring a card, in most cases, involve removing some or all of a cards natural tone. It is then necessary for a card doctor to artificially age a card by adding a toning solution (retoning) or by other unnatural means.

	A vintage card bleached (several times) to remove a stain from the back and improve some imperfections on the front surface. In all this card went through over 20 card doctoring steps.		Same card that has been retoned to hide the bleaching alteration, blend the stain and artificially age the card.

Unfortunately if done correctly and with some degree of skill, it can be difficult to identify a card that has been toned or retoned by looking solely at the color. Often you will need to look deeper and beyond the falsely aged card to identify other forms of alterations such as trimming or masked stains which can be a shade or more darker.

As described above, retoned cards can be difficult to identify. After being "put through the wringer" then retoned it was submitted to a grading company where it easily passed.

With enough practice you may even be able to ignore the tone at first glance and dive right into the search for other doctored areas, choosing to look at the tone later.

Not all retoned cards are done with subtle care and expertise. It is these cards that can reveal an attempt at artificial aging. Retoned cards may have had some type of solution added or may have been chemically treated. Hold the card to your nose and give it a quick sniff. As in the bleaching, the human nose can detect abnormal odors. If a chemical odor is detected or the smell of anything that should not be present is suspected, in conjunction with uneven, too even or spotty aged tone, there is a chance your card has been altered.

With a halogen light study the card for inconsistencies in the normal color tone. This can be seen as dark spots, both large or small, an overall caramel-type color or a card that simply looks over toned or abnormally dark in appearance. Smaller areas may actually be dark brown or blackened. Study the edges closely with a loupe and note any grime or tiny dirt specks that may still remain in the pores. This is a sure sign the card has been rubbed with dirt or, sand or mud, since a normally aged card should be void of any foreign debris.

This card has been trimmed on the left side with the right side untouched. Under a halogen light it shows what a naturally toned edge and edge/border looks like when compared to newly exposed cardboard.

If there are any creases, scuff marks, and deep edge pores looked at them carefully. Retoned cards may have a darker color in low areas, left by any potential toning solutions that sit too long or not long enough when the card was doctored. Under the light, check the surface gloss of the card making sure that it does not have film coating or is very dull and glossless.

The first picture shows a pirate back card as it appeared naturally and unaltered. Later it was used to reback another card and was then retoned.

Beware of modern reprints of older cards, usually of some value. Although they may seem real they are frequently toned, roughed-up and/or dirtied to make them seem vintage. The tone may be more pronounced on the borders and edges and get increasingly lighter towards the cards center. This is because dirt and/or tone applied easily sticks to the roughed up areas, whereas it may be repelled by the modern cardstock.

Sometimes a card does not need to be bleached to remove a stain. This card has has had the ever-so-difficult wax stain removed chemically from the back. This type of alteration is almost impossible to detect and will pass by professional graders most (if not all) of the time. Depending on the card, a stain removal such as this can increase the value considerably