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Posted By: David

I don't collect Old Judges, but do regularly deal with photographs. I usually give two descriptions: one for the image itself and one for the overall photograph (the physical item). Such as "the photograph grades Very Good due to corner creaes. The image is Mint." Or "The photograph itself grades Near Mint, but the image has some fading." Naturally, providing a good image will help the potential buyer assess the photograph. As someone who regularly buys and sells photographs, it is often not possible to give a single grade that accurately describes the item's state. And what is important will vary from collector to collector. For me, the image quality is foremost and technical grade is less imporant (unless it's a bargain, I avoid high end/expensive photographs if the image is light our out of focus, even if it is in otherwise high condition.)-- while for others how it would be graded by PSA is most important. In other words, it's a personal decision.

I don't have a picture, but there was a profesionally graded Old Judge King Kelly with a rare pink image. It had a high grade (perhaps ExMt), but the image was very light. Despite it's rarity and high grade, it did not sell for much. It's fair to assume this was due to the bad image.