1923 Billiken Question.

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Posted By: Scot

This card has a perfect hole in the upper left corner. Doesn't look like a thumb tack hole. Could it be a factory defect?

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Posted By: Ben

Bugholes. Common defect on cuban cards, especially Billikens it seems. Cool card!

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Posted By: Zach Rice

Yupp, bug hole. I own a few myself with them.

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Posted By: Scot

Those bugs do good work. It's a perfectly round hole. Thanks!

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Posted By: howard

That's pretty darn perfect for a bughole. Maybe the original owner kept his cards together on a ring.

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Posted By: David McDonald

Definitely a termite puka. Get plenty the buggahs here in Hawaii. One good thing anyway about slabbing cards is that termites don't eat plastic.

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Posted By: Seth B.

If you check Ryan Christoff's auctions, you'll see a bunch of similar holes from bugs.
Great looking card, nonetheless.

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Posted By: Matt Goebel

BTW, a bughole is an automatic 10 from SGC.

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Posted By: Josh Evans

The grading services are really tough on the Latin stuff
Minor paper loss on backs of Toleteros and bug holes in the earlier Cuban issues are more the rule rather than the exception
But I suppose you have to make all things equal in grading and treat everything on the same basis
I guess it is for the rest of us to realize that when these kinds of issues are in truly great condition to take the Cuban/Latin element into account
I am not saying pay more for the stuff but to realize that ultimately the market will settle itself out and condition will be a premium
As it always is

Watching the Cubans in finals of the World Baseball Classic
Now what does that tell you?

Josh



edited by leon so the pic would show....thanks Josh

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

seem to prefer the upper left corner. On all 4 pictured (2 from the board and two from Ryan's auction site) have bug holes in upper left. One has another in the center. Why would the bugs shun the bottom corners or upper right? Anyone have them with holes in a spot OTHER THAN the upper left with nothing in upper left?

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Posted By: Zach Rice

Here is my Minoso which has a bug hole that is not in the upper right hand side.

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Posted By: Matt Goebel

And the bug ate right through the whole stack!

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Posted By: fkw

My bug was bigger

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

The reason so many Billikens have holes in the top left corner is, as Matt mentioned, because there was an entire set that was in a stack that bugs ate through. One bug ate all the way through the top left portion of the entire stack. Another bug started further in and down, but still in the top left portion. That one must have gotten full because it only ate through about half the cards.

Here's my personal favorite bug-altered card:



-Ryan