I thought it had to be within 2 years (1 year 364 days or less). I did not realize it was 2 calendar years.
Here is an example, slightly extreme but it applies nonetheless.
Charles Conlon is in his studio and he produces 2 Cobb images from the original Negative in late December 1911. They are being sent to two different publications. He sends one to the New York Times and they get it and date stamp it December 31, 1911. He sends the other one to Maine (a little further away) and they dont get it until Jan 1, 1912 and stamp the file date on it. The New York Times example is a Type 1 worth $50,000. The other one can not be a type 1 because it is more than 2 years from the 1909 date. It MUST be labeled a Type 2 by PSA right? By the rigid standards of some collectors, this is worth significantly less money because it is a Type 2.
Before you laugh, some collectors ARE that stupid and wont want the latter example because it is a type 2 and PSA says it is inferior to a one day older example. This is just an attempt to standardize the hobby of photos and make money off of it. I have no problem with calling a photo "vintage" or "Not Vintage" and coming up with a general standard, but producing any type of rigid rules for a non-rigid collectible to me is arbitrary at best.
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