How important is CENTERING to you???

[qj-baseball]

I always look at the centering of a card first regardless of grade. Is that wrong? I feel like even if the corners are soft or print defects exist, a centered card encompasses how the card 'was intended to look'. It's all about the eye appeal to me. It seems like the term 'dead centered' is used way to loosely as well. Thoughts?

There is a PSA 9 1959 MAYS A.S. on eBay now claiming to be DEAD CENTERED.

I have attached a scan of mine. U be the judge.

JASON

[Leon]

top to bottom is not 50/50 on that card. I am one of those collectors who really likes a nicely centered card. Others don't mind off centered so much but to me it detracts quite a bit. I always take better centering over sharper corners....(I am mainly a pre war collector but this stance goes for any cards)

[Bob Lemke]

I have always been a centering guy when buying cards of the 1950s-60s. Given two examples of the same card at the same price, one centered but with touched corners, the other with sharp corners but off-center, I'd always opt for the centered example.

My old SCD buddy Dan Albaugh was firmly in the other corner. He felt that since cards often came directly from the pack in that era with poor centering, they were preferable to soft corners at the same price.

[nolemmings]

Depends on the card, but I'm kind of with your old buddy, Bob, or at least I was for years. I always separated factory mistakes from those caused by handling and wear, at least within reason (95/5 centering was always offputting, so too the print defects that give the player an extra eye or some huge abscess on his neck).

Lately though, I focus more on centering for all mainstream issues (I am extremely forgiving on back centering though). For example, I'm slooooooowly gathering Philly gum football sets, and will only buy very, very well centered cards. I could have completed these sets, even in my preferred grade of 8, if I ignored centering and just bought whatever came up for auction. Instead, I'm about half way on some, worse on others. Still, I know there are just so many of these out there that if I'm patient, I'll be happier with my set(s). If the corners are strong 8s but the card is not well centerd, I'll bide my time.

Prewar and scarcer items are a different story. There I grab what I can afford and worry about upgrades if and when I ever see the card again.

[Chris Counts]

I'm probably in the minority, but I actually look for off-centered cards because I can usually get them for just a fraction of the price of a centered card. As long as some semblance of a border exists, or the card doesn't have a bad diamond cut, I'm okay with it.

[sox1903wschamp]

I value centering quite a bit on 50's and 60's cards. It seems that as the years go by I have to upgrade those 85/15's or worse to at least 60/40 especially side to side. Funny though, I can stand bad centering top to bottom if the border is on top but if there is little or no border on top, I can't stand it as I think the card looks terrible.

For pre-war I am more lenient and even more so if the card is rare.

In general, I will always value centering over sharp corners.

Nice topic, Thanks, Michael

[ChiefBenderForever]

I used to not care as much as I do now, but still don't mind as long as it isn't so outrageous. What I can't stand is the slanted off centering. If it is even borders I don't mind the off center. I have many nrmt cards off center and many exmt cards with soft corners dead centered. I guess I would rather have a nice centered card with soft corners instead of razor sharp corners off centered.

[Mrc32]

Centering for sure.

Cards were meant to be handled, so rough edges and softer corners are alright. I will always go for the centered card over razor sharp corners.

[brian1961]

Centering is a very, very important part of helping a card look attractive. I agree with you that centering can make a great difference when it comes to appreciating a card.

The trouble comes when we pass on cards that we would love to have in our collection, but do not come up to "our centering standards." For instance, the Mays All-Star you show is definitely not dead centered, but 40-60 top bottom, while 50-50 left-right. I would call that well-centered, and very desirable, and PASSABLE, FOR MY OWN CENTERING STANDARDS. When I say "trouble" then, I am inferring to the possibility that by being too picky, or demanding that any card I buy must be perfectly centered, I run the risk of losing out on some very enjoyable, and cheaper I might add, cards to my collection. By all means, the choice is yours, but you will pay dearly for those cards that are dead-centered.

Being a perfectionist much of my life, I had to learn what was feasible, available, and deal with my own obsessive-compulsive behavior about wanting cards that really pleased me. In time, I began to hone in on what really bugged me in a card--- print spots, print defects, and picture registry. What good is perfect centering, when the card has print acne on the guy's face, etc.? Or "snow" all over it, even if it is 50-50 all the way around? After all, these cards were always known as picture cards until the
late '60s or early '70s, as I recall. The whole point is the picture; the border merely frames the picture.

Even here (print spots, defects, and picture registry), there are sets that you have to cut yourself some slack, if you really crave them. One example is the 1969 Topps Football, especially the second series. If the Topps guys even printed ONE second series football card without a print spot, it was surely an anomaly. Of course, I can only guage what I saw in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Another example is the 1962-63 Post Cereal baseball. Most of the cards have little tiny spots on the player's picture. It's just how they were printed---no big deal. However, I still keep away from any of those that were printed out of focus. There I draw the line. Wax stains on the back--who cares? Unfortunately, a grading company cares about wax stains, but with Post, I would accept the qualifier and move on.

Back to the matter of centering, as an example, many guys who love the very scarce and beautiful 1954 Wilson Franks adjusted their tolerance for off-centered cards because the cards were printed with such minuscule borders. That was a wise decision on their part. Besides, less border, more picture/background area, which is what I am really looking at and loving. Another such set would be the rare 1955-56 Rodeo Meats Kansas City Athletics.

Granted, I imagine neither of us like creases, but then again, depends on the issue. ...

Just my dollar, and two cents, on the matter.
Salute. -Brian Powell

[bobsbbcards]

I'm not fond of wildly off-centered cards, but anything that's 60-40 or better will fit in nicely in my collection. I'm much more focused on the freshness of the card (could it have come out of a pack looking the way it does now?). Corners, edges, color, registration all come before "perfect" centering.

[qj-baseball]

I wasn't claiming the 59' Mays to be DEAD CENTERED. I wanted to do a comparison of the 59' Mays that was currently running on EBAY but I figured I shouldn't go copying and pasting his auction image on this thread. My Mays is definitely 50-50 Left to Right. That's where it matters most in my opinion. I can live with 60-40 top to bottom because it still looks like it could have been designed that way. Thanks for all the replies!!

[scooter729]

I am OK with vintage off-centered cards that may have a PSA OC qualifier with sharp corners. For example, give me a decent-looking PSA 8 OC over a PSA 6 in most cases.

Check my McGraw pictured here. To get sharp corners on a NM-MT card nearly 70 years old, and just have it be slightly off-centered, I feel it is a great value over getting a better centered card in EX-MT with touches to all corners.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm happy with this card!

[Doug]

Centering never really mattered much to me as long as the card had four distinct borders. I'd rather have a NM looking card with 80/20 centering over an EX one that's 50/50, but it seems like I'm in the vast minority.

[sesop]

good question- side to side, to me, the only thing worse than a card being even slightly off-centered is a pinhole. top to bottom however, i don't mind- and in some cases, i prefer. i had an e101 jack knight sgc50 which was perfectly centered top to bottom and side to side. i happened upon a raw e101 knight which was centered side to side, but had more bottom than top. i bought it and downgraded from the other one because i liked the way it looked better. the card is now in an sgc 40 holder and is technically in worse condition than the one i sold, but i like it much better.

[Flange]

Card focus and clarity are the most important qualities for me. I'll prefer a sharp crisp image on a somewhat worn card over an unworn card with poor focus either in the photography or color registration. I just derive more pleasure from it.

I can tolerate some centering issues especially on common cards. If I'm seeing part of another card then that's too far. Again it depends on the card.

[David W]

Side to side is more important to me than top to bottom.

I'd rather have good centering and fuzzy corners, than sharp corners and bad centering, especially side to side.

In grades 5 to 7, I'd rather have centering. I rarely look at the corners.