Posted By:
Rich KleinBut; in my years of doing the Almanac at Beckett, this was my order of importance.
1) Get the checklist of a "new set" into the data base and enter that set accurately. In addition, I always wanted to get a listing going in the data base even if it were just one card, so I could have a base in case more cards from that set were found.
2) Second step, get an image of the card in that set. I always preferred having a front and a back image. To me, a big advantage of the Krause SCD is that they picture front and backs of pre-1980 cards. Even though many cards in Beckett have front and back images in the data base, one only sees the front image (and a very small image to boot). I understand with page count restrictions why that was so, but to me, this is now a big advantage for the SCD guide.
3) Get the prices right. The purpose of a guide is to be a guide. However, frankly; unless prices are or were way off, I was just as happy with prices as good as possible. With the lead time you need for an annual, there was no guarantee that prices would be accurate when the book when live.
One imporant difference between Krause and Beckett is the condition the cards are priced in. Krause still uses NM as their condition for vintage cards while Beckett uses ex-mt. That to me is an advantage for Beckett, as the goal is to be closer to the condition that most cards are available in that condition then in better shape.
Regards
Rich