Alleged Card Trimmer and Former PSA Employee Mike Souza Exposed— eBay ID= 9999rbush

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

Remember that two of the PSA 10 SI4K Tiger Woods cards were submitted by Moser (old account, right?) according to the thread on PSA's message board:
https://forums.collectors.com/discus...1955-aa-orouke

I love this post in there....

I kinda like the two cards he got graded right after the O'Rouke. SMR is $25,000 a piece

50045639 - 1955 - TOPPS ALL-AMER. - CHARLEY O'ROURKE - 8
50045640 - Text1996 SI FOR KIDS TIGER WOODS - PSA 10
50045641 - Text1996 SI FOR KIDS TIGER WOODS - PSA 10
50045642 - 1954 - JOHNSTON COOKIES - BOB THOMSON - Not Holdered, Evidence of Trimming
50045643 - 1954 - JOHNSTON COOKIES - HENRY AARON - Not Holdered, Evidence of Trimming
50045644 - 1954 - JOHNSTON COOKIES - WARREN SPAHN - Not Holdered, Evidence of Trimming

[superdan49]

This is the 1996 SI for Kids Tiger Woods rookie card that Mike Souza was offering for sale on his 9999rbush eBay account last year and perhaps into this year (the exact time it was taken down is uncertain; the auction has been erased from the web). It has perfect 10,10,10,10 subgrades, making it—in BGS parlance—a "Black Label." Please note that this small image is the only one I could find. If anyone can find a larger-sized copy of this image, I will switch it out.





Notice that Souza put his eBay username, 9999rbush, on the card, and covered up the serial number with his business phone number. It was a Pop 1 card at the time he was selling it. We know that because the eBay auction page still comes up in a Google search, but unfortunately neither Google nor Archive.org have it cached: Tiger Woods 1996 SI For Kids Rookie Beckett BGS 10 Black Label Quad 10 pop 1

Looking in the BGS database, the first of these cards to receive perfect quad 10s was serial number 4190282. I could find no record of this card ever selling before, meaning Souza either graded it himself back in March 2006 or he later acquired it in a private sale:

https://www.beckett.com/grading/card...4190282&flag=1





Anyway, something BO user pip said sparked my investigation into this card:

Originally Posted by pip

At least several of the high grade 1996 SI for Kids Tiger Woods cards have been trimmed. How do I know this? Because of the number of serrations around the edge. When certain card trimmers got ahold of them, they were recut but the card doctors forgot to count how many serrations the original cards had. Many years ago, I noticed this on a number of PSA graded examples. I had completely forgotten about this until this thread.

Following up on pip's tip, I decided to count the number of teeth on Souza's BGS 10 Black Label copy of Tiger Woods's '96 SI for Kids card. Unfortunately, the only image online of this card is small. However, Souza set the card on a mahogany background, which creates superb contrast for seeing the white teeth. I have enlarged the image 300% so you can count with me the horizontal and vertical teeth:





As you can see, on this card there are 28 teeth on the horizontal plane and 39 teeth on the vertical plane.


I then compared that to another example of the same card, also in a BGS holder. The BGS 8 card I selected was picked because its perforations cut into the yellow border of the card above it, leaving a yellow remnant on the Woods card. On cards with this yellow remnant, both Beckett and PSA consider it a knock against the card's centering. Thus, the card doctor would have nothing to gain by doctoring a card with that yellow remnant.

Let me explain further. Below is a photo of an uncut sheet from the November 1996 issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids. Inserted in this magazine was a nine-card page of cards featuring various sports stars.





The border colors of the cards alternate purple-yellow-purple for the first row of three, then yellow-purple-yellow for the second row, and then back to purple-yellow-purple for the final row. The Tiger Woods card is always the center card. Therefore, Tiger's card has a yellow card bordering each of its cardinal points. If the factory cut perforations are somewhat askew, then some of the yellow from one or two of the adjacent cards ends up on the Woods card after the perforations are torn. That is what occurred here on the top of this particular BGS 8. I am certain this card is a 100% unaltered example:






As you can see, there are 30 teeth on the horizontal plane and 41 teeth on the vertical plane. Notice too that the teeth appear less prominent on the BGS 8 compared with the BGS 10 Black Label. On the BGS 8, as with many other authentic examples of this card, there are also irregular-looking paper pieces remaining in the corners from tearing the card away from the others. These chads, seen in the two upper corners, are not teeth, but sometimes they are adjacent to a tooth.


So, to recap, the BGS 10 Black Label '96 SI for Kids Tiger Woods card has 28 teeth on the horizontal plane and 39 teeth on the vertical plane, whereas the BGS 8 '96 SI for Kids Tiger Woods card has 30 teeth on the horizontal plane and 41 teeth on the vertical plane. How can we explain this? For help, I turned to BO member Calculusdork, a mutliple-time winner of the Topps's Ginter code promotion. Heck, they even made a card for him in the 2015 Allen & Ginter set to celebrate his codebreaking skills! Here is what he said about this SI Kids Tiger Woods card:

Looking at an uncut sheet, it appears that there is room on the short side and long side for approximately 30.5 (or 61/2) and 40.5 (or 81/2) teeth, respectively. (I know, there is no "half-tooth", but for the sake of math it matters.) Short side is 2.5" or 5/2 ... 5/2 x 2/61 = 5/61". Long side is 3.5" or 7/2 ... 7/2 x 2/81 = 7/81"

Distance between teeth on short side is 5/61 inch, or slightly more than 5/64 inch. Distance between teeth on long side is 7/81 inch, or slightly more than 11/128 inch.

The BGS 8, with its 30 horizontal (or short side, as Calculusdork put it) teeth and 41 vertical (long side) teeth, fits perfectly within these calculations. But why then does the BGS 10 Black Label card only have 28 horizontal and 39 vertical teeth? The answer is it was trimmed on all four sides. Back to Calculusdork:

Long side (to get to 28 teeth on short side) - 5/32" off one side (L or R), or 5/64" off each side (both L/R)
Short side (to get to 39 teeth on long side) - 11/128" off one side (T or B), or 11/256" off each side (both T/B)

In sum, based on Calculusdork's calculations, I believe the left and right edges of the '96 SI for Kids Tiger Woods BGS 10 Black Label card was trimmed approximately 5/64", while the top and bottom edges were trimmed a little less than 3/64". The question then is how does one recreate the perforations after trimming the edges. That sounds complicated, right? The solution is actually easier than one might think. There are numerous such precision devices on the market. Here is one such device that received good ratings: https://www.binding101.com/score-ii-...erfing-machine


And here is a photo of the type of blades used by this machine:



Please note that for many of these devices, you can buy blades of all different sizes depending on the perforation gauge you desire for your project.


Now to look at the BGS 10 population numbers of this card in detail. As of today, BGS has graded 707 examples of the 1996 SI for Kids Tiger Woods card, awarding Pristine 10 grades to 14 of them. Two of those 14 are perfect quad 10s, later given a Black Label by Beckett, including the Souza copy discussed here. Of those 14 pristine cards, 13 were originally graded between January 2005 and March 2007 (two were later reviewed by Beckett and bumped up from BGS 9.5 Gem Mint, but those two were first graded within the stated time frame). The Souza BGS 10 Black Label shows a grading date of March 23, 2006, right in the middle of this hot period. Of course the Black Label itself did not exist in 2006, so this card was reholdered as a Black Label at a later date.


Beckett has been grading this card from 2001-2019. Over this 18 year period, why were 92.9% of the BGS 10 Pristine grades awarded during this narrow two-year window? I am of the opinion that many, if not most of the BGS 10 Pristine Tiger Woods cards graded from January 2005 to March 2007 were trimmed and re-perforated, just as the BGS 10 Black Label card here was.


I'll leave this investigation here for now, but there are many unanswered questions:

1) Who submitted for grading the BGS 10 Black Label that Mike Souza was selling on eBay? Was it Souza or another party?
2) Did Beckett catch on to this scam in early 2007?
3) Did the card doctors who trimmed these cards then move on to PSA, SGC, or another grading company to get their trimmed Tiger Woods cards certified?

Remember, if the card does not have either 30-31 teeth on its vertical surface and 40-41 teeth on its horizontal surface, then I would strongly recommend you avoid this card.

[pspa123]

Could they be cutting them from the sheet just inside the perforations and then reperforating, as opposed to trimming already separated cards?

[superdan49]

Originally Posted by pspa123

Could they be cutting them from the sheet just inside the perforations and then reperforating, as opposed to trimming already separated cards?

Yes. I think it could be either.

[Saraste]

Dan, on the blowup of the black label, if you look between the 8 and 1 in the phone number, you can see what looks like a 2 as the last digit of the cert number. Will this narrow down the black labels to the specific card that was listed? If so, will this help?

[Batpig]

Next question- are there any other high value cards that are perforated?

[SetBuilder]

Originally Posted by Batpig

Next question- are there any other high value cards that are perforated?

1914 T330 Piedmont Art Stamps was the first set that came to mind.

[superdan49]

Originally Posted by Saraste

Dan, on the blowup of the black label, if you look between the 8 and 1 in the phone number, you can see what looks like a 2 as the last digit of the cert number. Will this narrow down the black labels to the specific card that was listed? If so, will this help?

Yeah the serial number for this card is 4190282. That is confirmed. To find out the card doctor's name, someone would have to get it from Beckett. Or subpoena their records. Whichever.

[doowopbruce]

BGS measures their cards. I've seen them return cards marked "trimmed". I'm surprised PSA doesn't do the same.

[calculusdork]

It should be noted that my calculations assumed 30 and 40 teeth on the horizontal and vertical sides, respectively. If the vertical value is actually 41, it will change the T/B trim values to something closer to 5/64" (similar to the L/R values).

Dan, great work by the way. No way that black label isn't trimmed.

[superdan49]

Originally Posted by calculusdork

It should be noted that my calculations assumed 30 and 40 teeth on the horizontal and vertical sides, respectively. If the vertical value is actually 41, it will change the T/B trim values to something closer to 5/64" (similar to the L/R values).

Dan, great work by the way. No way that black label isn't trimmed.

Thanks Grant. Your assistance here was critical. That's what makes BO so great- it's a team effort all the way!

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by doowopbruce

BGS measures their cards. I've seen them return cards marked "trimmed". I'm surprised PSA doesn't do the same.

BGS has its own problems. Both companies claim to measure cards, but there's just as much going on at BGS as there is at PSA. Plenty of people get their cards rejected for trimming at PSA if they aren't on 'the list'.

[SetBuilder]

Originally Posted by doowopbruce

BGS measures their cards. I've seen them return cards marked "trimmed". I'm surprised PSA doesn't do the same.

I doubt that for this issue. The grader sees perfs and thinks that there's no way it's trimmed and re-perfed.

The grader also doesn't have the measurements of this set memorized. They would have to search in a computer for the dimensions or find out that information, and that takes time. Time you don't have when you have to grade 1,000 cards a day.

[Batpig]

Originally Posted by SetBuilder

I doubt that for this issue. The grader sees perfs and thinks that there's no way it's trimmed and re-perfed.

The grader also doesn't have the measurements of this set memorized. They would have to search in a computer for the dimensions or find out that information, and that takes time. Time you don't have when you have to grade 1,000 cards a day.

Spot on. That’s why the trimmers love to fake rough cuts as well.

[peterose4hof]

It would be good if the Tiger Woods SIFK had its own thread. That way if someone is searching for info about that specific card it would come up.

[Archangel1775]

Originally Posted by Batpig

Spot on. That’s why the trimmers love to fake rough cuts as well.

This one threw me for a loop, I had no idea that it go so sophisticated that trimmers were creating rough cut scissors/cutters and now.....perforated ones....crazy!

[Arazi4442]

I know there aren't that many high $ SIFK cards, but does the 30/41 teeth hor./vert. apply to all their cards? It could vary by year or issue.

I guess the best way to find out would be to find an uncut sheet in an SIFK issue, remove a low value card and count the teeth for each issue?

[SetBuilder]

The simplest solution would be to create a perf gauge like they have in stamp collecting.

Maybe a forum member can create it and mail one to BGS and one to PSA. That way they'll have no excuse.

[auburn35]

Here is the submission of the most recent Tiger Woods BGS 10 Black Label, graded last month.

11469219 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids II Tiger Woods 7/2/2019 10 10 10 10
11469220 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids II Tiger Woods 7/2/2019 0 0 0 0
11469221 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids II Tiger Woods 7/2/2019 0 0 0 0
11469222 Card does not exist or is not available

In addition to knowing who submitted these cards, it would be really interesting to know the reasons why BGS rejected the other two cards (altered or minimum grade?).

[mjohnatgt]

Originally Posted by pspa123

Could they be cutting them from the sheet just inside the perforations and then reperforating, as opposed to trimming already separated cards?

Quite likely. Actually pulling them apart would lead to spider wrinkles.

[pspa123]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

Quite likely. Actually pulling them apart would lead to spider wrinkles.

There's an art to separating them but I've never caused a wrinkle. You just have to keep folding very patiently along each edge until they separate on their own or it's quite easy to pull the card off. The hardest part is making that first fold.

[SetBuilder]

After looking at a few of these Tiger Woods cards on eBay, that pristine 10 is laughable. First, the perfs look nothing like the legitimately cut cards. The real cut perfs are much flatter. The perfs on the Souza 10 protrude out a bit too far. Second, the small sliver of the gold border from the adjacent card, usually present on at least one side, is completely missing. Just those two observations should raise a red flag to anyone viewing that card.

[pip]

Some comments:

Beckett graders are both compromised and incompetent. Anyone who is considering purchasing a BVG/BGS 10 from them of any substantial value should think twice.

The person or persons who are reperforating these cards, presumably from the original sheets, are criminals. Just think about how calculated this crime is. I sure hope the FBI is reading this thread. If they can subpoena the submission records for Beckett, they're going to uncover a treasure trove of criminality. Mike Souza--time for you to find a good lawyer.

I question whether it's even possible to find a 1996 SI For Kids Tiger Woods with perfect borders and without any yellow showing. There's probably no such thing as an unaltered, legitimate "10" in this card.

[Bruins1993]

Originally Posted by peterose4hof

It would be good if the Tiger Woods SIFK had its own thread. That way if someone is searching for info about that specific card it would come up.

Separate thread would be great on these.

Is this one questionable that Goldinauctions sold?
https://goldinauctions.com/1996__S_I...-LOT51703.aspx

I'm counting 28 teeth horizontal and 40 vertical.

[Batpig]

Originally Posted by Bruins1993

Separate thread would be great on these.

Is this one questionable that Goldinauctions sold?
https://goldinauctions.com/1996__S_I...-LOT51703.aspx

I'm counting 28 teeth horizontal and 40 vertical.

No good. You can tell right away before even counting that the perforations are wrong. They’re too pronounced.