That's a beautiful card. Unless you absolutely need the money in the next 2-4 years I'd 100% advise not selling it. It's only going up up and away.

I like the sound of that! You think after this 9.5 ends prices will shoot up again?

Yup 100%

To the moon, Alice.

Regarding that 52 topps psa 4 Jackie robinson up above in this thread. I was going to bid $30k on that card but fell asleep (it sold for $20k). Learning here high bidder had a max of $40k has greatly lessened my regret. And by the way, KILLER CARD. Congrats to the wise buyer.

Also - that 53 bowman mantle in sgc 7 in post just before this is straight FIRE!!!

Hahaha, my eyes are bleeding!!! Here, I'll fix it for you :)

WOW!!! That's an incredible card! Congrats. I bet you'd get upwards of $300k for it. No way it's less than $250k. Centering is pretty dang close to 50/50. Not sure how much the surface wear would affect the eye appeal gang though? Certainly some more than others. But still a huge card either way that is easily AT LEAST double "comps" of your average PSA 4.

Thanks for saving me $10k, lol. I owe you a beer good sir :)

Thanks Man

How does this one score on the OCD centering meter? You have to disregard the shadow of the top slat to really judge it.

I obsessively collected the 1953 Topps set (hence my username) and got really dialed in on centering after looking at so many examples. A lot of times the bottom border blends into the uniform or scenery (like the Mantle) so its really the top border and the left/right I focus on. That Mantle is very nice, its off top/bottom but it looks great.

Wow, that would be awesome! Thanks for the nice comments.

Your 4 has world class centering; as good as it gets. I concur with Snowman, and I am sure Joe T would agree-- 300k is the low-end baseline for that example. The blue background/surface is its flaw yet the overall eye appeal is certainly there; in my opinion it reaches that "critical mass" level of eye appeal where it will spark impassioned bidding. Bottom line, too few exist centered to that degree.

And Peter, outstanding 1953T. A hair top/bottom but the edges, corners, the red corner, side centering, image, it's all there and forms super high-end eye appeal. I am hard pressed to recall a finer looking 5.5/6.

That's a sweet card. If that centering bothers you you probably legit have clinically diagnosable OCD. haha

That’s a beauty!


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Which one is better and/or more valuable?

I would personally pay more for the SGC 3 because it has much better centering. The 4.5 has less snowing and a more clear image, but the centering is just something I couldnt deal with for a more modern card. Both cards are great, obviously.

I prefer the 4.5, but understand the opposite perspective.

4.5, no contest IMO.

I would agree with this. Centering is very important to me on any card. Perhaps even more on the mantle- prob because 1952 Topps issues are tough to find centered and I would be more picky at these high price points.
That said… the ICONICNESS (these letters together should be a word I think) of #311 is the rich Blues/yellow bat/registration/shadow on face/logo/rc sig etc. The image is what is recognizable primarily.. not the centering which is 0-100 on every card with borders.
The “snow” is a big NO for me. Color and registration needs to be on point with more wiggle room on centering imo.

The two below are close. The 4.5 is a bit too off centered for me to be happy with but the sgc 3 is just way too snowy(more than a bit for me).
Obviously still very valuable and great cards but I just wouldn’t be a player close to what they would sell for at auction.

For me, those two examples above are ones that I pass on, so I would choose Option C: keep stacking my chips for a card like the 4 that was posted earlier in the thread, or my own 4.5.

The 4.5 in question above is just far too OC for me, and the 3 while possessed of decent centering has too many abrasions or scuffing, and the 311 is a card that I like with a deep, rich blue background. Sometimes it is best to holster it and pay much more for beauty that has it all.

Man, to me saying that 3 has "decent" centering is like saying Hamlet was a decent play.

On the 53's I find that if the bottom of the position and team name letters lines up with and sits on the top of the bottom border you have pretty close to perfect top to bottom centering.

That's a beautiful 53! Not perfect centering, but the top to bottom shift isn't really a big deal on these since the bottom border is hardly noticeable. It has the look of symmetry still, and I think that's what matters most. As far as numbers go, it's 50/50 L/R, and 47/53 T/B. But as Probstein would say, it "looks nicer" than that.

Assuming there are not creases I can't see, I personally would pay WAY WAY more for that SGC 3 than I would for that PSA 4.5. Probably double (though I wouldn't pay much for that 4.5). But as for the broader market... I think it'd be close. There's already a pretty big price gap from PSA to SGC just to begin with, but a 4.5 to a 3 is a pretty big "expected" drop. That said, I think if both cards were in the same auction, the 3 might still outperform the 4.5.

Ya, I'm with you here. In fact, it's why I passed on every 3 and 4 I ever had the chance to buy and ended up buying one in an authentic holder instead. Mine isn't dead-centered obviously, but I still much prefer it to either of those two above.

It's a strange market though for high-end cards in Authentic holders. I've had 3 people offer me $100k for it, and multiple people saying "it's only worth $30-40k". It's one of those cards that has a much smaller market, and is not quite as liquid as one with a number grade. I suppose it's a bit ironic that I'm as OCD as I am about eye-appeal but not about Auth holders.