Where are the borders?

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Posted By: leon

As I was just placing marker bids in an auction, and after seeing all of the high grade cards.....I thought of a question. This is not to pick on any grading company at all. I am curious if sometime in the future collectors will start paying more for cards with big borders (well, ok, maybe any borders)...even if in a slab. I know when I buy cards I like big borders. I do also understand, very well, that some cards were somewhat hand cut but c'mon....Some of these cards nowadays have very little borders and I wonder if they really came that way (well, actually I don't wonder I am just being nice).....thoughts? American Beauty's aside would anyone pay more for big borders? I know I will....

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Posted By: Josh K.

Come on Leon, are you actually suggesting that there are trimmed cards that have been slabbed by grading companies?

Seriously, it probably would only make a difference to me if I were bidding on high grade cards - which Im usually not doing. Low and mid grade cards, IMO, are less likely to have been altered and if they look untrimmed, I will accept the confirmation by the grading company even if the borders are a bit narrow.

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

I met a collector about 8 or 9 years ago that was looking for oversized cards for just that reason (cut it down, with a laser trimmer).

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Posted By: T206Collector

...and evenly rounded corners are cards that I would pay a premium for in an SGC 60 holder. I don't trust sharp pointy corners on my T206 cards, even those graded by SGC. I am certain others feel the same and that this will have some effect on the overall value of thin-bordered cards. But given the amount of money people appear to be willing to put down on a PSA 8 T206 card with the qualities I find most suspicious, I doubt it will have much impact at all on the upper end, where registry status drives more people than objective quality of card and it only takes two ebay bidders to tango.

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Posted By: Mark

I really like cards with big borders, particularly in T206. I will almost always pay more for these cards. I have no intention of trimming them, of course. Just like the way they look.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Cards with big borders should be worth a premium. In stamp collecting, stamps that are well centered with huge borders might sell for more than ten times one with average borders. The term they use is "boardwalk borders." I always thought that was pretty cool.

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Posted By: Joe D.

'very little borders'.... what do you mean?




doesn't bother me a bit if the card is right.



but, I see your point... and yes I would pay more for borders that do not appear undersized.

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

I like big border cards. BIG! Willard Chocolate type of big.

t206s? Come on. Borders are just a utility to protect the image. As such they are sacrificial. However in real big border cards they can be attractive. And in specialty bordered cards, like t204s and t205s, they are crucial.

I just bought Joann's t206 Keeler on the B/S/T. That card exhibits borders which have served their function properly.
Look at it, but only a quick glance - you could turn to stone.

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Posted By: steve f

That Keeler shows evidence of trimming

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Yes,
I've been paying more for big bordered T206's for many years and will continue to do so. I call my collection of over sized T206's, "The Beefy Border Collection", but I doubt SGC will print that on there label...

Be well Brian

Here are a few of the smaller ones:

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

Brian,

From what I've read recently GAI will add your custom text regarding the beefy labels!

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Posted By: jay behrens

I like big boaders, I cannot lie. The others brothers can't deny...

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: JimB

Jay,
Very funny. I wondered how many people here got the referrence.
JimB

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Posted By: jP

Jay that is funny, got it when i read it.

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Posted By: Josh K.

got right away

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Posted By: barrysloate

Okay, I missed it. I guess I am odd man out.

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Barry, it's a lyric from an old hip hop song about big butts.

-Al

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

I was discussing this the other day with Leon....I was mentioning a Am.Beauty t205 Bender that I just picked up on ebay and it looks the same size as the main backed ones. My
T&E card collection is pretty much based on big borders. I
have stated on several posts about, if it looks wrong ,it usually is wrong. Longevity has it that way.

You will always have cheats in anything that there is involved
im making money, just the way life is.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Thanks Al. I know zero about hip hop, thus the missed reference.

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Posted By: andy becker

you're not alone barry. thanks for the education

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Posted By: warshawlaw

What is the legitimate variance on T206 borders?

Given how regularly cards cut so long that you can see both names (regular name at bottom and name at top from the card above), it seems to me that there is a pretty good variance "naturally" occurring.

Are there any cards in particular that seem to be narrower, other than AB?

I think the Evers with blue background is narrower than other cards. I've seen quite a few that seem narrower and that are low grade enough so I don't think they're trimmed.

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Posted By: barrysloate

It's funny but certain cards seem to come smaller. I can't tell you how many M116 Mathewson's I've seen that look a little short. Problem is, even if a card is naturally cut small, it won't get graded. The graders just don't want to have to guess how the card got that way. The T206 AB's are the exception, since they are all uniformly narrow.

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Posted By: Jason L

I have to say that I am a man who fancies large borders, I got the reference and indeed, the bigger the better. Though only for aesthetics and not because it provides an opportunity to doctor a card, which hadn't even occurred to me until now, and now I'm depressed to think that that is the actual reason that those cards may be bid up...oh well....guess I'll just be happy to have a very modest spending limit that won't allow me access to the more-likely-to-be-doctored !!!