Condition perils of early 70's cards

[jchcollins]

I don't know why, but for some reason a few months ago when I decided to focus in more a bit on 1970 through about '73 Topps cards - I thought I would have an easier time finding affordable cards with less obvious condition issues. Boy was I wrong. Is it just me, or did QC at Topps noticeably go down after the 1960's? Sure, it is easier to find cards with sharp corners in the '72 set than with 1956, but here is a list of various and sundry other issues that I've found (mainly '72 Topps is going to be my example because they seem to be the worst...) that I wasn't necessarily expecting:

1. Horrible centering. This was no surprise, but gosh did it get worse in the '70s?
2. Centered cards, but ones with sneaky diamond cut or extreme tilt issues upon second glance. I got burned on a '72 Carew that had the latter but for some reason was still graded a PSA 8. Also I have a slightly diamond-cut '73 Schmidt - it doesn't really bother me, but it's there. I went online and looked at the PSA 5 and 6 Schmidt RC's for comparison - and more than half of them had some degree of that issue.
3. Edge dings! The borders on '72 and '73 Topps seem particularly fragile - say in comparison to another set with white borders - like '65 Topps. Even cards that are otherwise in super high grade can have an easy to miss edge ding if you aren't being careful. Older sets it seems to me that the white borders are smoother and glossed better or something. Some '72s and it's like the edges and corners are a thin coat of white-out that can easily be chipped away!
4. Print spots that hide until you've bought the card, and random stray ink (roller marks?) and other common PD issues, like fish-eyes. Unless it's really bad, TPG's seem to go pretty easy on the fish-eye type things, but still - they are noticeable.
5. Card stock in general just seems crappier - and thinner. I've noticed that in comparison to other issues, 1972 Topps cards often slide around noticeably in their PSA holders. A trait which usually quickly earns their liberation from those holders when in my collection.

On the whole I'm not complaining because this timeframe is still cheaper for me in collecting than say - '62 Topps. And by my own description I'm not a "high grade" collector. But I will admit the condition issues I've continually stumbled upon in terms of what I see for the grade have been eye-opening and a bit unexpected.

[ALBB]

Oh, yea...those print spots..dots...whatever they are....you see a lot of that in 73 and 74 …. I guess Topps figured - " who cares...where else the kids gonna buy baseball cards " !

[Vintagevault13]

Couldn’t agree more. I am in the process of upgrading approx. 50 cards for my 1974 set due to the “spots”. I have tried to convince myself they are no big deal, but they drive me crazy! This is a HUGE problem for the 1975 set. These print dots/spots were the sole reason I chose to build my 75 set one card at a time. It was initially more expensive, but I knew I would have to upgrade 1/3- 1/2 of the set if I bought lots or a complete set.


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[Rickyy]

Yeah the 72 tilt issues bug me a lot....I ended up upgrading several times on some cards as I built up my loose set. Nolan Ryan...ugh must have bought 4 or 5 until I got one I liked....

Ricky Y

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Rickyy

Yeah the 72 tilt issues bug me a lot....I ended up upgrading several times on some cards as I built up my loose set. Nolan Ryan...ugh must have bought 4 or 5 until I got one I liked....



Ricky Y

I hear you there. On my ‘72 Ryan I took a decently centered card with no tilt over many other things. The one I ended up with was only an SGC 4, but to me at least looked better than many other 6 and higher cards which had the tilt problems.

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[Exhibitman]

Easier? Not with these designs.

1970, 1971 and 1975 have those full-bleed color borders, plus the ubiquitous Topps poor centering.

I am convinced that the stock on 1973 cards is softer than on other years. They seem to get corner wear from the breeze. Add in the full bleed black back borders and you have a tough card to find in top condition.

My theory on the 1972s is that the designs themselves on certain cards are not perfectly squared off so they tend to look diamond cut regardless. That said, the asymmetrical design T-B makes it easier to tolerate off-centered cards that way. There are some cards that are just about always found o/c L-R. Finding a nice Aaron IA card, for example, is a challenge for centering. The thinner borders than other years also make the o/c more glaring.

1974 seems to be fisheye and print mark heaven.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

My theory on the 1972s is that the designs themselves on certain cards are not perfectly squared off so they tend to look diamond cut regardless. That said, the asymmetrical design T-B makes it easier to tolerate off-centered cards that way.

The #595 Ryan is ridiculous. Since we were talking about it, I went and looked again thinking maybe I could upgrade - and 9 out of 10 of those cards on eBay right now have the tilt issue. Even some of the PSA 9’s out there for sale have it.


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