Which Topps issue has the worst centering?

[frankhardy]

Generally speaking which Topps year has the worst centering issues? Centering in general seems to get better in the late 1980s into the 90s. 1975 stands out to me as having terrible centering and miscuts. 1952 seems to be another bad year for centering. I could be wrong on these. This is just what stands out to me.

Thoughts?

[JollyElm]

Is "Every single last set of cards put out by Topps" an acceptable response?

If not, then it's 19-frickin'-72 for me.

[Beercan collector]

For me it’s 1979 , i’m from Missouri - Everyone’s pretty much aware of the Ozzie being off centered but Brett is just as bad - and Rose
- personally 1954 has been tough for me (#1 Williams , Banks )
1971 ? I think you could mentioned almost any set
I wonder if there’s Even a set that comes to mind that is generally centered .

[ALBB]

Yea,
things got sloppy in the early- mid 70s..no doubt

[G1911]

1975 Mini

[Cliff Bowman]

1962 Stamps and 1966 Rub Offs come to mind.

[bobsbbcards]

1952 Topps

[ALBB]

Those 73 Candy Lids always seemed way off center

[skelly423]

Speaking as a collector trying to build a centered set, the answer is hands down 1952. Even on the best cards, you'd be lucky to have 20% of the population of a given card with 45/55 centering or better. The worst cards may only have a dozen examples across the entire set run (Eddie Mathews comes to mind).

In my very unscientific opinion, maybe 10% of all 1952 cards printed were well centered. Even when you find centered examples, many of them are diamond cut.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by frankhardy

Generally speaking which Topps year has the worst centering issues? Centering in general seems to get better in the late 1980s into the 90s. 1975 stands out to me as having terrible centering and miscuts. 1952 seems to be another bad year for centering. I could be wrong on these. This is just what stands out to me. 5

Thoughts?

My vote goes for 1952 Topps. Just hard to find certain cards centered.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by skelly423

In my very unscientific opinion, maybe 10% of all 1952 cards printed were well centered. Even when you find centered examples, many of them are diamond cut.

And even more often than that, when you do find a centered example, it seems to have been so 'well loved' that the the wrinkles, creases and rounded corners weigh it down.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by ALBB

Those 73 Candy Lids always seemed way off center

True that.

[butchie_t]

My simple answer: Pick one, any one.

[quitcrab]

73 candy lids… great answer

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

For me it’s 1979 , i’m from Missouri - Everyone’s pretty much aware of the Ozzie being off centered but Brett is just as bad - and Rose .

100% agreed. Absolute mess, majority of cards have 1-5 10s or often zero. Quantity of centered makes looking for a hen's tooth in a four-leaf clover seem easy.

My second choice is technically not Topps officially. However, if just one 1981 OPC card has perfect centering, I have never heard or seen it.

[irv]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Speaking as a collector trying to build a centered set, the answer is hands down 1952. Even on the best cards, you'd be lucky to have 20% of the population of a given card with 45/55 centering or better. The worst cards may only have a dozen examples across the entire set run (Eddie Mathews comes to mind).

In my very unscientific opinion, maybe 10% of all 1952 cards printed were well centered. Even when you find centered examples, many of them are diamond cut.

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

And even more often than that, when you do find a centered example, it seems to have been so 'well loved' that the the wrinkles, creases and rounded corners weigh it down.

I was going to say the same thing. It is sometimes heartbreaking when one finally does come across a very well centered card only to see that it has been previously well loved.
I've tried to upgrade numerous of my 52's to more well centered, better conditioned cards, but sometimes I'm not sure if it is worth the disappointment?

[perezfan]

1968 is pretty awful for centering. How many Nolan Ryan Rookies have you seen with just a sliver of that grainy border L to R (or no border at all?)

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by perezfan

1968 is pretty awful for centering. How many Nolan Ryan Rookies have you seen with just a sliver of that grainy border L to R (or no border at all?)

Most of the late 60s are tough. I think 69s are the worst.

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[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by irv

I was going to say the same thing. It is sometimes heartbreaking when one finally does come across a very well centered card only to see that it has been previously well loved.

I've tried to upgrade numerous of my 52's to more well centered, better conditioned cards, but sometimes I'm not sure if it is worth the disappointment?

52T set is a tough one for sure, but I believe 54T is much worse.

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[irv]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

52T set is a tough one for sure, but I believe 54T is much worse.

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Very well could be, Al?
My main focus has been 52's, as you know, so take my comments with a grain of salt if you will?

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

For me it’s 1979 , i’m from Missouri - Everyone’s pretty much aware of the Ozzie being off centered but Brett is just as bad - and Rose

- personally 1954 has been tough for me (#1 Williams , Banks )

1971 ? I think you could mentioned almost any set

I wonder if there’s Even a set that comes to mind that is generally centered .

79T, for sure! It's much harder to find anything centered on the 79s than any other late 70s set.

I don't collect the 71s because of the black borders, but well-centered, high-grade examples sure look nice.

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[Snowman]

1954 Topps is the worst. Dead-centered copies in that set make up less than 1% of the print run.

1952 Topps isn't far behind with around 2-5% centered copies, although this set varies more by card.

1975 Topps is a mess. I'd probably put this set 3rd, but there are enough of them that you can still find centered copies if you're patient. The worst part about this set though is the tilt and miscuts.

1955 & 1956 are pretty tough as well. 1953 is surprisingly not that bad.

Here's one of my favorite 1975 examples I've come across lately... Way to go PSA!

[mq711]

1968 are not only OC but pack fresh cards are often below minimum size standards. But worse of all is the 1969 deckle edge cut inserts, those folks with the sewing shires were murder on those cards.

[GasHouseGang]

I have to agree with the 1975's and the 1979's having many miscuts. Also, the 1978's were often misprinted (ink blobs, blue streaking) and sometimes entire packs of the 1978's had veins running across the card surface as though the top layer of the paper wasn't properly glued down to the paper stock. Maybe I'm the only one that saw that failure in packs of the 1978's.

[insidethewrapper]

I used to sort thru cases of Topps from the Mid-'70's to about 1990. Almost every year was bad. I threw out 1,000's of cards when trying to make nice sets for my customers from wax and vending. I remember the 1978 Murray, 1979 Ozzie Smith and 1985 Gooden were especially hard to get centered.

[OPC Baseball Obsessed]

A real sleeper in this category, I'm lucky enough to have or have access to all forms of the packaging, and lots of them. The base was mostly wax, vending and grocery racks, with very few from regular racks and cello Packs. Racks seem to be less available than prior years, and cello as well. The grocery racks are, for the most part, abhorrent quality, with substantial print/ink issues on top of our topic, centering.

I collect and sell high grade commons from 72-86 FB, and it is correct that 1979s are a nightmare. There is even some disagreement about which bottom centering variation is perfect and which is 55/45.

But I think if 1980 collectors were compelled to send in enough cards to meet the numbers of other sets, 1980 is the centering nightmare. I am attaching the Bob Griese photo, these are 40 percent grocery, 20 percent wax and 40 percent vending. Note that these are not all collected in those cases, many were 'miscut' where the (usually) left border was involved with the img128 (3).jpg

img130.jpgnext card. I trash those so they arent accidentally sold.

The NM+ to NM-MT example is from my local star dealer who has about half the number I have but I understand hhis to be 80 percent wax and about and even split between vending and racks.

The Griese card is on the second or third tier of the most difficult to find centered lists. See Mark Washington, Sherman White, Hasselback, etc. The set isn't flashy and doesn't have a Campbell/Montana level Rookie but I think it warrants more buzz due to these centering issues.

[jchcollins]

I would agree with whoever said 1954 Topps, because those in addition to generally bad centering also come frequently with tilt or diamond cutting issues - and even if the cards measure, some TPG's refuse to take the time to understand, as SGC recently did to me on an otherwise EX-ish '54 Jackie.

The rest yes, flip a coin. The other vintage sets I have interest in right now (1963, 1967, and 1972 Topps) all generally have horrendous centering issues. '67 is particularly tough because the white borders against often rich, dark backgrounds are pretty noticeable - and they are also for whatever reason a hair thinner than the garden variety Topps white border - compare say to 1961 Topps, or 1958. This coupled with tilt and DC problems means that a truly perfectly centered '67 Topps card with no skew is pretty much a unicorn.

I'm helped out in this department by the fact that I'm not a centering freak - generally I'd rather have a card 70/30 with a sharp image and nicer corners than one 50/50 all the way around with weak corners or surface issues...but yeah. If you care about it even at all, the centering on most Topps sets older than about 1980 can give anyone fits.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I would agree with whoever said 1954 Topps, because those in addition to generally bad centering also come frequently with tilt or diamond cutting issues - and even if the cards measure, some TPG's refuse to take the time to understand, as SGC recently did to me on an otherwise EX-ish '54 Jackie.

The rest yes, flip a coin. The other vintage sets I have interest in right now (1963, 1967, and 1972 Topps) all generally have horrendous centering issues. '67 is particularly tough because the white borders against often rich, dark backgrounds are pretty noticeable - and they are also for whatever reason a hair thinner than the garden variety Topps white border - compare say to 1961 Topps, or 1958. This coupled with tilt and DC problems means that a truly perfectly centered '67 Topps card with no skew is pretty much a unicorn.

I'm helped out in this department by the fact that I'm not a centering freak - generally I'd rather have a card 70/30 with a sharp image and nicer corners than one 50/50 all the way around with weak corners or surface issues...but yeah. If you care about it even at all, the centering on most Topps sets older than about 1980 can give anyone fits.

So true about the thin 67T borders, they really emphasize any tilt on the card.

Your comment also made me realize that collectors have different ideas about what tough centering means. For Snowman it's how many 50/50 cards can he find. For Dale it may be how many cards in his set are worse than 60/40. (52T has some cards that are notoriously difficult to find even 70/30.) For others it's how many unacceptable OC and MC cards there are.

If you do find any 67T unicorns though John, please let me know. I will make you a good deal for them.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

So true about the thin 67T borders, they really emphasize any tilt on the card.

Your comment also made me realize that collectors have different ideas about what tough centering means.

I just can’t. It’s how they were made. To me, mild to moderate OC is proof of authenticity this day in age. I don’t like truly miscut cards or 90/10, but beyond that I’m hard pressed to care.

LOL here is my ‘67 Aaron:




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[JollyElm]

This otherwise beautiful 1967 Tilterin' Hank card is coming back a 5 from the SGC sub...

1967aaron250tilted.jpg