what do you look for in an Old Judge card?

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Posted By: Jay Miller

Since this is my primary area of collecting let me chime in also. For me the paramount factor in judging an Old Judge's quality is picture sharpness. For me a pinkish photo (unless it is still very clear which can sometimes happen) is a killer for a card. After that I look at the general appearance of the front of the card. Centering, corners, wear and tear all enter into this. Lastly, I look at the back of the card. Writing/glue residue/minor paper loss from scarpbook removal mean almost nothing to me. If you offer me two cards with identical fronts and one has glue residue and the other has a clean back, of course I'de take the one with a clean back. If you charged 10% more for it I'de go for the one with the residue. I prefer original cards--not rebacked or skinned--but I will take these if I need the card until/if a better one comes along.
Someone asked about the pinkish coloration on some Old Judge. This occurs almost exclusively on 1889 and 1890 issues. I always heard that it might have been caused by a problem in the development process, but perhaps MW is right and it was caused by a bad batch of photographic paper. By the way, besides pink cards there are also some purple ones and, from what I have seen, these tend to have sharp photos.
By the way, I am not trying to say that my way of looking at this issue is the right answer. Like so many things it is a matter of personal preference and this is what I prefer. I don't collect slabbed cards(although I have purchased a few when this was the only way to get a card I needed) so issues that effect a grade are not that important to me but should be important to those who want to have their cards entombed.
It's great to see a thread like this. It shows how the popularity of this issue has grown. In the mid-1980's I used to buy football matchbook covers from hobby pioneer Frank Nagy. I once asked Frank if he had any Old Judge in stock. He told me no. He had given them all away years before. When people ordered from him he would throw a few Old Judge in as a free gift. Oh for the good old days!