[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by edhans

Grading silks is generally not very well understood, even by some of the grading companies. Like Old Judges, one important, but usually overlooked criterion, is image quality. S74s can be found with washed out, barely visible images and with incredibly bold and almost stunning clarity and contrast. Naturally the latter should command a premium over the former. With the colored silks (the one on the left in the OP's scan), it is imperative that the top and bottom captions be intact, as they are on the Cobb. I can't see it too well, but there appears to be minimal fraying. The "creases" or "folds" do not trouble me too much as they could probably be ironed out if desired. The colored Cobb should cross easily to an equal or even higher grade. The white silks must have their original paper backing intact to warrant anything more than an "A" grade. Once again, I can't tell for sure , but the Cobb appears to be missing the original back. If so, I would not waste the money trying to cross it. It's grossly overgraded if missing the reverse.

Here are scans of the backs. But, I will probably free them from the slabs.

Joe