Million dollar mantle

[orly57]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Interesting how we all collect, and yet in so many different ways.

When I was a kid, I would immediately toss all severely OC, tilted, and miscut cards, or ones that were super blurry. Image clarity and centering were always huge for me, even then.

I always viewed corner wear as something intended, due to handling of the card by kids, whereas the card was always intended to be framed evenly and to have a focused picture. My eye was always drawn to the center of the card, as opposed to the corners. And part of what draws the eye to the central image is the intended centering.

As I got older, I would search for a card on ebay and was struck by how few, and in some cases none at all, were perfectly centered. Seeing that this aspect was rare added a new appreciation for it and makes the hunt fun. But again this is just one of myriad ways to view and collect cards.

I think you said it better than I could. We as collectors are all a bit OCD, but some things bother us more than others. I can live with creases and corner wear, but bad centering is something I cant live with