Centering and condition rarities

[goudey1933]

For the 1st time since 1982 I'm venturing back into post war baseball.I was exchanging messages with a fellow board member and we discussed centering rarities in the 1972 set.Even before the discussion I realized that certain cards with said issues went from costing a few $$ for a mid grade then escalating drastically to a graded card in high grades/centered condition commanding hundreds of $$...even for a common player. Before grading this situation did not exist as far as huge prices.
My question as is how those of you trying to build higher grade sets in general deal with these cards.Do you usually settle on a lesser card or pony up the big $$?
Also what sets are you building that deal with these scarcities?
PS I'm not talking true card rarities or HOF's...the common card.
All thoughts welcome.
Scott

[avalanche2006]

I am building nrmt sets of 1958,1959, and 1960.
My focus is mainly centering with sharp corners. These sets are known for centering issues and I have bought many hard to find perfectly centered graded cards that are good for my set and then cracked them open. I am tired of getting raw ungraded cards that are not as nice as described.
I have put these together card by card, upgrading many times.
There is no settling for a lesser card at this point I'm committed to a certain standard.

Enjoying the hunt but getting really hard to find since I am so close.

Mike

[jchcollins]

In today's world of graded cards, centering has almost exponentially more importance to high grade collectors than it did even 20 years ago. When I collected cards in the late 80's - even with vintage - an older card with sharp corners that was centered maybe 80/20 was still routinely described as "NM" or better. Not the case today.

I'm not a centering freak, but will agree beyond a certain point it does destroy the eye appeal of a card. I look for centering today as sometimes a way to get a bargain - if a card is centered within what I find tolerable (I don't mind 70/30 one way, or sometimes even worse than that but still for some reason appealing to me) - I will try to get such cards for a deal compared to better centered ones in similar grades otherwise. Most people who collect graded vintage really do hate O/C cards. Fine by me...

[JollyElm]

I am awaiting arrival of this notoriously tough 1961 high number HOF'er (last card in the set) that I was able to pick up for less than a third of the price that straight 8's go for, and I couldn't be happier!

s-l1600-2.jpg

The o/c qualifier in no way, shape or form bothers me (back is centered nicely)...perhaps because slight top to bottom centering anomalies aren't nearly as harsh on the eye as side to side issues are.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I am awaiting arrival of this notoriously tough 1961 high number HOF'er (last card in the set) that I was able to pick up for less than a third of the price that straight 8's go for, and I couldn't be happier!

Attachment 321519

The o/c qualifier in no way, shape or form bothers me (back is centered nicely)...perhaps because slight top to bottom centering anomalies aren't nearly as harsh on the eye as side to side issues are.

Good deal there. Given the nature of those 61 AS cards, it doesn't even really look OC to me.

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[avalanche2006]

That card wouldn't bother me if I was doing the set.
Card looks good and I would crack it open anyway.
It would look great in a card saver.