eBay seller bristolcollectibles selling trimmed PSA graded cards. Details Here.

superdan49 · 09-20-2018, 09:26 PM

~~This is a long post with large image inserts, but it needs to be to present all the evidence~~

With all the discussion around the erasing of the autograph and possible trimming of the PSA 10 Bowman Chrome Juan Soto Superfractor, I have decided the time is right to present my evidence of a trimming operation at work. These cards have been sold by eBay seller bristolcollectiblesand have been certified and graded by PSA.

I collect Derek Jeter and LeBron James cards, as do thousands of others. For rare cards, I always sought out examples graded by PSA or BGS. Recently I noticed eBay seller bristolcollectibles has been selling quite a few examples of extremely condition sensitive Jeter rookie issues graded PSA 10. Having pulled many of these cards myself back in the day, I know that you just don’t find gem mint copies out of packs. These cards have all been graded recently, as evidenced by the PSA Lighthouse holder.
One card in particular caught by attention. A 1996 Studio Gold Press Proof card of Derek Jeter, graded PSA 10 and sold for $521.75 on August 28:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Studio...vip=true&rt=nc

I collected 1996 Studio as a kid. I had never seen one with such pristine borders. I decided to search the completed items. Low and behold, I found this raw example, sold for $60 on July 2:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Leaf-S...ip=true&rt=nc&

Having owned multiple ’96 Studio Press Proofs of Yankee players, I knew that virtually all of the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Press Proof cards had minor foil wear on the Yankees logo. It is a flaw intrinsic to that set. That wear formed a distinct pattern on each card (almost like a fingerprint; circled in blue). Notice that the bristolcollectibles PSA 10 and the raw example sold on eBay are the exact same card, based on the foil wear pattern:

(Please note that bristolcollectibles later sold a second PSA 10 Jeter Gold Press Proof on September 12. You can see the Yankees foil logo wear is different on that one than on the PSA 10 and raw card).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Studio...vip=true&rt=nc

So now I established that they are the same card. How then did the raw example, with a dinged upper left corner (circled in green on the above images) become a PSA 10 with a perfect corner? The answer was obvious: it was trimmed and PSA missed it. The question for me now was: Is this a pattern for this seller’s PSA cards or a one-time crime?

I dug deeper. On August 21, bristolcollectibles sold a 2000 Pacific Gold Tom Brady Rookie, graded PSA 10 and serial numbered 013/199.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Pacifi...vip=true&rt=nc
Item details:
http://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayI...1&secureDesc=0

Here I found the same 013/199 before it was graded on Worthpoint, which was sold on February 3:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...199-1912801417

In the fourth image of the Worthpoint link, the seller set the Brady card against a dark background. You can clearly see white wear in both the upper left and lower left corners (circled in pink):

This card is clearly a PSA 8 at best. However it earned a PSA 10 and was sold by bristolcollectibles. How did these two corners become so perfect? (circled in pink again):

We now have multiple cards sold by bristolcollectibles which were 100% trimmed. I have more to say, which I am writing now, but I wanted to post this given the circumstances with the Soto Super. My next post will contain more pertinent details, including another trimmed card.

09-20-2018, 09:26 PM	#1
superdan49 BODA Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 4,272	eBay seller bristolcollectibles selling trimmed PSA graded cards. Details Here. ~~This is a long post with large image inserts, but it needs to be to present all the evidence~~ With all the discussion around the erasing of the autograph and possible trimming of the PSA 10 Bowman Chrome Juan Soto Superfractor, I have decided the time is right to present my evidence of a trimming operation at work. These cards have been sold by eBay seller bristolcollectiblesand have been certified and graded by PSA. I collect Derek Jeter and LeBron James cards, as do thousands of others. For rare cards, I always sought out examples graded by PSA or BGS. Recently I noticed eBay seller bristolcollectibles has been selling quite a few examples of extremely condition sensitive Jeter rookie issues graded PSA 10. Having pulled many of these cards myself back in the day, I know that you just don’t find gem mint copies out of packs. These cards have all been graded recently, as evidenced by the PSA Lighthouse holder. One card in particular caught by attention. A 1996 Studio Gold Press Proof card of Derek Jeter, graded PSA 10 and sold for $521.75 on August 28: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Studio...vip=true&rt=nc I collected 1996 Studio as a kid. I had never seen one with such pristine borders. I decided to search the completed items. Low and behold, I found this raw example, sold for $60 on July 2: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Leaf-S...ip=true&rt=nc& Having owned multiple ’96 Studio Press Proofs of Yankee players, I knew that virtually all of the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Press Proof cards had minor foil wear on the Yankees logo. It is a flaw intrinsic to that set. That wear formed a distinct pattern on each card (almost like a fingerprint; circled in blue). Notice that the bristolcollectibles PSA 10 and the raw example sold on eBay are the exact same card, based on the foil wear pattern: (Please note that bristolcollectibles later sold a second PSA 10 Jeter Gold Press Proof on September 12. You can see the Yankees foil logo wear is different on that one than on the PSA 10 and raw card). https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Studio...vip=true&rt=nc So now I established that they are the same card. How then did the raw example, with a dinged upper left corner (circled in green on the above images) become a PSA 10 with a perfect corner? The answer was obvious: it was trimmed and PSA missed it. The question for me now was: Is this a pattern for this seller’s PSA cards or a one-time crime? I dug deeper. On August 21, bristolcollectibles sold a 2000 Pacific Gold Tom Brady Rookie, graded PSA 10 and serial numbered 013/199. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Pacifi...vip=true&rt=nc Item details: http://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayI...1&secureDesc=0 Here I found the same 013/199 before it was graded on Worthpoint, which was sold on February 3: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...199-1912801417 In the fourth image of the Worthpoint link, the seller set the Brady card against a dark background. You can clearly see white wear in both the upper left and lower left corners (circled in pink): This card is clearly a PSA 8 at best. However it earned a PSA 10 and was sold by bristolcollectibles. How did these two corners become so perfect? (circled in pink again): We now have multiple cards sold by bristolcollectibles which were 100% trimmed. I have more to say, which I am writing now, but I wanted to post this given the circumstances with the Soto Super. My next post will contain more pertinent details, including another trimmed card.