How much do of a premium (if any) do you put on a card's centering?

[Doug]

It's not prewar, but I was watching a SGC 50 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle on eBay last night and was shocked to see it sell for "only" $8626 when I expected it to go for $10,000-$11,000. It was a pretty solid looking VGEX, but the centering was about 80/20 side to side. Either someone got a deal or the centering killed the price. Especially after that well centered SGC 30 in the last Goodwin auction went for $10,555.

[ChiefBenderForever]

I knew you would be watching that ! I think the centering played a part but even worst was it was faded and had didn't have good color at all. Probably saw a lot of light over the years, maybe was framed up on a wall or something. That card was just not appealing compared to many others, no freshness at all imo and the price reflects that.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHarmonica

I knew you would be watching that !

I can't imagine what would have given you that idea! I thought the color looked a bit washed out as well. It seems like the version that doesn't have the black box around the Yankees logo has a more washed out look to it than the other one with the black box, but I've only had one w/o the box so I can't really make a comparison.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Doug

It's not prewar, but I was watching a SGC 50 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle on eBay last night and was shocked to see it sell for "only" $8626 when I expected it to go for $10,000-$11,000. It was a pretty solid looking VGEX, but the centering was about 80/20 side to side. Either someone got a deal or the centering killed the price. Especially after that well centered SGC 30 in the last Goodwin auction went for $10,555.

I like cards with great centering and go after them more than ones with sharper corners and not so great centering. I think we had a recent poll and the "sharp corners" folks just slightly outnumbered the "centering" folks. The '52 Topps Mantle seems to be notorious for poor centering and if I ever decide to get one my decision will be based on several things with centering being very important.

[Rob D.]

If it's a truly scarce card, I can be pretty forgiving on centering. If it's a card like a '52 Topps Mantle, of which there are tons available, I'd be pretty picky.

[JamesGallo]

It depends on the issue. The 52 Topps Mantle is a card where I think it matters A LOT. Other issues it just might be next to impossible to get good centering so you take what you can get. That Goodwin card was nice for the grade and that explains the price :-)

James G

[drc]

My personal taste matches Leon's. Prefer nice centering versus sharp corners.

[jbbama]

Centering over corners as well.

[sox1903wschamp]

I am a centering freak on 50's on up. A little less so on pre-war because as mentioned above, it maybe a long time before you see it again.

[Matt]

And just to throw in a wrinkle - I care about Left/Right centering much more then Top/Bottom, due to the aesthetic of the symmetry.

[Robextend]

Generally unless the centering is worse than 75/25 i will take sharp corners. But for me, great registration and color might be the deciding factor in deciding between the two.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by Matt

And just to throw in a wrinkle - I care about Left/Right centering much more then Top/Bottom, due to the aesthetic of the symmetry.

Me, too. On a T206, I am really not concerned top/bottom as long as I can see a reasonable amount of white on the top and most of the name on the bottom. But if it is really askew left/right then I do notice it a bit more...