PSA 5 or PSA 8 (OC)
 

Advice on what you would buy.
I am looking to buy a card and narrowed it down to PSA 5 or PSA 8 (OC). Its about a $30 difference but wanted to get opinions, as those of you here have a lot of knowledge and I respect what you have to say.
Thanks

I think the answer is simple: whatever one appeals to you more. Different people will have different opinions. Whatever one YOU like better, get it

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I have centering OCD so it's an easy decision for me, although it always comes down to which card you prefer.

A 5 is not a 5 is not a 5. I've seen much worse encapsulated 5s.

In this case, I'll take the 5 because it has a lot of eye appeal, especially for a '63.

I would probably get the '5'. And this is from a guy who likes cards with qualifiers. The corners don't look too horrid on the '5'.....

That doesn't help w/o more info about what the card is. If it's $1500 then the difference is fairly negligible. For an $80 card, it's a lot

I would take the 5 as well. Believe it or not, the centering isn't the deciding factor as the top to bottom doesn't bother me nearly as much. But overall color and the print dot are more troubling on the 8(OC)

What troubles me even more than the color/print dot (for an 8 OC) is the bottom right corner.

Centering aside, you regularly see sharper-looking cards than this get a PSA 6. It makes it very difficult to "grade" your own cards accurately

I believe that corner has a "ding", but is still consistent for an 8. The 5 shows more actual corner wear as opposed to being dinged. Its all up to the individual for sure.

I really like your 5 on that Brock...it looks much better than the 8 (oc). My mind is made up in my situation it is similar to this 63 Brock...I am buying the 5

You're right. That's far from the only '63 8 OCs that has a corner just as bad (and no better color).

I may be undergrading some of my stuff. If something had a corner ding that noticeable, the color and everything else would have to be almost perfect for me to consider a possible 8

The Brock example is probably a bit misleading since it's a beautiful 5 and an atrocious 8OC.

8OCs can look nice:

https://i.imgur.com/Ur7tqrm.jpg

You would be surprised to see some of the 8's I have. It takes 30x magnification to see the imperfections on the corners. But let's face it, it's PSA. That 8(OC) could easily be a 7 on any given day.

To be clear, the 1963 Lou Brock is NOT the card you're considering, right? Can you post pics of the ones you're interested in, or do you not want to disclose it in case it makes someone else grab it right out from under you?

Being much more of a corners guy, if the OC isn't too bad or distracting, I'd generally jump on that one. If the centering is atrocious, that's a whole different story. We'd all have much more insightful opinions if we could see the two choices.

It would depend on the age of the card, and how common it is to be found in a higher grade. Without seeing the cards or knowing any other details, I would say I would be more likely to lean towards the 8OC the older the card is, since an 8 might be really hard to find on a pre-war card.

On a card from the 1950s-60s, I could be more likely to go with the 5, since an 8 is easier to find, and maybe the 5 could look gorgeous but just have a very small wrinkle.

So, it all depends on the specific card at hand.

Remember, the market generally dings an OC by two grades in pricing, so an 8 OC would typically sell for around 6 prices. But again, that's all subject to change, based on the specific card we're talking about here....

The 5 Brock is mine, I pulled the 8oc listing off of eBay for comparison to make a point for OP.

I chose to buy this Orr rookie in 8(OC). To me the centering is hard to read on this card and in my judgment it doesn’t put my eye off when I look at it. Not even sure why the designation. It also seems arbitrary to me when a card is downgraded on centering versus labeled OC. I don’t get it.so I would make the decision on your own eye appeal.

Totally agree. Some cards don’t look as bad OC as others. Your Orr is a perfect example. It’s spectacular and I’m sure it has more relative value (to other Orr RCs with no quals). In general not all OCs are created equal. A card that is OC both vertically and horizontally usually has significantly worse eye appeal than a card just OC vertically. And in a case like the Orr card where there is no clearly defined bordering it’s not nearly as conspicuous as cards with bordering. My guess is you could easily get the same money as a 7 with NQ if you chose to sell that card perhaps even more since there tends to be a huge gap between 7 and 8s in condition sensitive issues (other examples being ‘62 and ‘71 topps baseball).

PSA has been inconsistent in all aspects of their "opinions"...esp with their OC designation. Buy the card...who cares what PSA's opinion was anyway. It's all such a crock!

Definitely a beautiful card, and, imo, it doesn't matter much on that card as the OC designation is because of top to bottom, which is hard to tell on your card.

When an OC designation is applied, the tolerance, depending on the condition of the card, becomes less and less the greater the cards condition is in.

That card would likely grade a 6, I assume, if you chose not to have the qualifier, but with yours, I would choose the 8-OC designation all day everyday.

I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I prefer the 8-OC. Even though the 5 isn't bad, the eye appeal of the sharp corners and colours on the 8 wins IMO.

For me, it really depends on the set. Because the '63T doesn't have a white border on the bottom edge, a little OC at the top doesn't cause a major issue for me. On another set like 64T, it would be more problematic.

I'll almost always take the centered card, centering is one of my personal qualifiers.

Yes the bottom right corner for me too

Looking at the 63 Brocks (one of my favorite human beings, btw, God rest his soul), I'd take the psa 5 right now

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PSA 5 or PSA 8(OC)? The correct answer is to buy raw since there is less chance that the card is trimmed.

lmao

If the PSA 8 O/C is 75/25, I am taking that. If it is a M/C in an O/C holder like those posted above, I will take the 5.

preference
 

My preference, though it seems contra-market at this point, is to buy the 8 OC card with sharp corners - nearly the way it came out of the pack, rather than a 5 with better centering but weaker corners. Perhaps it is because when I was learning about card condition 25 years ago, there was a focus on corners more than anything else. But I seek out the 8OC as a deep value. I do this knowing that the card collecting public may never agree with me, but I love those sharp corners.

This OC isn’t that bad IMO. The L-R centering is pretty good. Top/Bottom isn’t really that distracting.

but if you had to sell the OC card, it’d probably be harder to sell than the psa 5. I’d get the psa 5.

But get the card you like better.

Hey there, I know you know what you're talking about but I'm confused by this comment. How are the above cards with the "O/C" miscut? Along those lines what is the official definition of miscut. I always interpreted it as the card having no border one one side, but it's obviously a bit more complex than that. Thank you.

I have had cards with that centering graded M/C by PSA.