I mainly collect prewar, and no 1 for me is surface, especially dirt. Tons of prewar cards are just direty (stained, gum, tobacco, thrown in a sand box).

That trumps all other things.

I guess it is a matter of preference. I like the stains on my cards (as long as it is not overdone where it covers the main part). I think it adds character to it like the caramel from the CJ boxes on the cards like this or a little dirt it kind of like having a little patina on a classic car

70/30 or better is plenty good, especially for the time when manufacturing tolerances weren't so strict. If I wanted to put hundreds of dollars on whether something was 50.4/49.6 or 50.3/49.7, I'd get into rare stamps.

I like good centering if I can get it, but I like the card to look as close to "pack fresh" as possible. I understand why there is sometimes a premium on centered cards, but centering isn't the most important thing to me when deciding on what card to purchase.

+1

For me it really depends on the set and some times on the particular card. I care more about centering on T205s than on 1933 Goudeys for example (different shape, white border), and image color/clarity is always by far the most important thing for me. When buying my 1951 Mays (rookie card of my favorite player), I wanted to make sure there were no print defects (really hard on that card), no wax stains, and great color and registration. Had to give up a little on centering to get it, but I still love this card:

Way down the list for me. I like cards that are really hard to find, so when I'm able to get a shot at them, I'm not too picky about condition. Pinholes, missing pieces and paper loss bug me, but centering doesn't. It's always nice when I find one and it has nice centering though.

Jeremy - That's a gorgeous Mays.
I've always felt that if a card is going to be OC that when the player faces the wide border side in the image it fairs better on eye appeal then when he faces the narrow border side.
Examine a few card scans you see and test that for yourself.
The Mays, for instance seems right.
RayB

Couldn't agree more. :)

centered raw card...no mistaking that puppy for an E99! If I erase it, it won't get a "mk" LOL...although, without having it in hand, that could be one of those old, lead pencil marks that won't come off :(
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https://luckeycards.com/pe99melchoir.jpg

Centering is everything to me. I would buy a graded 8 card, perfectly centered, over a graded 10 card, slightly off-center. I have passed up on many cards due to not perfect centering. It's a sickness!

Out of curiosity, how many pre-war PSA 10s have you passed up due to centering?

I’m not a vintage card collector. I did own some 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, but after joining the Navy in 1978, I stopped collecting for a while. I wasn’t that picky about condition back then. Got back into card collecting again with more modern day players of the 80’s and thereafter. That’s when I started to get obsessed with wanting perfectly centered cards. I then got away from cards and been only a game used memorabilia collector for the past 15 years.

Leon, it is evident your head bobbing E99 floats quite contently in a sea of purple center-ness.

Brian

How important is centering to you
 

I will admit to biting hard on the centering trend when I first re-entered the hobby as an adult in my late 30's. But it seems I've lost more and more interest in that with every passing year. I've always been an image / focus / print quality person first and foremost, and at some point decided to quit trying to do everything. Also, the realization I keep going back to is that as a kid when I first discovered vintage cards - I couldn't have given less of a flip about centering. I didn't even know what it was at first. My first old card that I really cared about was a super sharp '66 Koufax that my mom paid about $15 or so for I'm guessing in about 1988. A few years back, I found a picture from my childhood that had my copy of that card in it, and I was shocked at how OC the card was left to right. Virtually zero left border, yet I never would have been able to tell you that during the time that I owned that copy. It wasn't something that even registered for me.

Increasingly as the hobby has become more "professional", and we find ourselves disillusioned with card doctors and graders and those who would pull the wool over our eyes, to me a poorly centered or miscut card just offers some additional possible visible authenticity protection that you don't have to get from a TPG or in some other fashion. All of the "Well, that's not how it was supposed to look..." logic to me is suspect at best; when did Topps or anyone else ever claim that cards were supposed to be a perfect 50/50 all the way around? They didn't. People speak of poor "quality control" as if it was even a thing for cards that were produced before 1980.

So my conclusion here is for me personally, but based on the direction that I think cognitive bias and groupthink have kind of led us down the road of expecting these things, cardboard ephemera, in many cases to be something they were never intended to be. Don't get me wrong, each unto his own. I love a dead-nuts centered card as much as the next guy - they are beautiful. If that is your thing, then more power to you. I just don't inherently hate the ones that didn't leave the factory that way and thusly can often be had for large bargains today as long as I still find them marginally attractive. As I am also interested in the "how" of card production - I understand OC / MC cards, and in some weird way I guess I have come to appreciate them.

Both of these cards probably set me back less than a third of the amount they would have cost raw had they been well centered. Both have good color and image quality. Works for me. Also, I love that you can see a sliver of the printer's mark that was on the sheet on the right side of the Reggie:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...36a3d9bf0a.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ee220c662e.jpg

I think with prices of vintage recently, a lot of people are reevaluating what they desire. I tend to still favor centering, but if I get a good deal on a card with "bad" centering and amazing registration for a good price, I will go for it. At this point with prices crashing on modern and vintage continuing to climb in many cases, I am just going for the best bang for the buck.

Saying that though, my "perfect" card is a PSA/SGC 3 to 5 range card that has great centering, great registration and some rounded corners or edge issues. I really prefer slight rounding of corners for pre-1960 cards with all the card doctors in the hobby. I know there are other ways to doctor a card, but I feel a lot safer avoiding this higher graded vintage. Plus, it gives the card character. Don't like creases, but a few surface wrinkles are ok with me. I have been getting those as I age as well. ;)

doesn't have to be dead centered
 

IF other attributes of the card are strong I can forgive some centering. Soft corners don't bother me too much either. Definitely not registry plays :cool:
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Anything with a pop 20 of less I could care less about centering. Pop under a 100 it matters somewhat. Pop over a 100 centering is everything as it differentiates cards all in the same condition.

Yes, for the more common cards in my collection, I really want them to be well centered. And agree on the numbers above otherwise....
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If it is something readily available and inexpensive, I want it fairly well centered. If hard to find and/or expensive, I'll take what I can get.

Centering? You Betcha!

Attachment 516903

Centering is off just a touch. Nice cards!

On my T206s I prefer centering with bigger top borders...

https://luckeycards.com/t206duffy.jpg