Strip cards - your opinion, please.

[Vintagedeputy]

Lately, I’ve been getting into some strip cards with a small collection that I picked up. Condition varies in this group, so I wanted to ask your opinion.

The people here are not important. I’m more concerned about the condition and how you view these. More to the point, these cards were hand-cut, or hand-torn it seems. I guess no one in the 1920’s owned scissors. Would you try to fix them before submitting for grading and encapsulation? (I’m not asking if you would send these particular cards in for grading, so please let’s not go off on a tangent about wasting money on grading worthless cards). I’m really interested to see how collectors view strip cards.

You’ll see that the Hoppe card on the left is pretty straight with the right dotted line border still partially visible. Would you trim that as best as you could along the line, or leave as-is? What do you think it would grade in either case?

Same thing for the Carter card. It’s pretty rough. Would it grade a 1 or A as is? Would you attempt to cut straighter lines? Would that help it?

The Hoppe on the right isn’t bad, except for that torn upper right corner. Would you try to trim it to make it less noticeable? What grade do you think it gets as-is versus trimming it some?

[NiceDocter]

Once you trim you can never go back. I don’t think most cards in these conditions should be slabbed…. sell as raw and let someone else roll the dice on altering/trimming….. by the way, it may just be the camera or lighting but that is some weird looking whitish bluish stock on those cards. None of the hundred or so I have look anything like that. Try eBay or previous auctions to see if you can find any others that look like that color pattern. Of course stocks on these cards varied as they were made to be mass produced…. I think many were sold a whole strip for a penny!!! In any event, proceed with caution! BTW I love strip cards even though there’s a lot of people who hate the cartoonish look. Good luck and congrats on your find! And lastly…..my 1000th post …..I have arrived!!!

[pawpawdiv9]

Love strip cards!!!
I collect the 1916-20 UNC big heads.

As for the cards, they are hand-cut and thus should only receive Auth grades.
BUT- the TPG's allow numeric grades based on the dotted lines showing.
For you, its based on what you like..otherwise i leave them as-be.
You might get lucky with the one on the left, to grade a 1.

[nineunder71]

Love strip cards!! My absolute favorite! Yes, even over T206s.

IMO, NEVER cut a card….period

On a grading note, the Carter has no chance of anything but A, guaranteed. Either of the other two ‘could’ receive a 1 from SGC, a bit less chance at PSA.

Good Luck


P.S. looks like I’m also close to the 1K posts mark, what do we get for arriving? Haha, jk

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by nineunder71

IMO, NEVER cut a card….period

Interesting take. Why? SGC notes that these cards were hand cut so wouldn’t cleaning up a hand cut be the same in your opinion?

[Section103]

I have no issue trimming up hand-cut cards, but you really need to have an idea why you're doing it. I had a raw W573 once that was wildly out of shape top to bottom. I trimmed it to appropriate length. It looks much better and graded 2.5. Im not necessarily a fan of trimming if the card is already below minimum size, but to each their own.

[Fred]

I honestly disliked strip cards that were crude renderings, but everybody has an opinion. Strip cards that had an actual likeness were fine, but I never pursued that issue.

Nothing wrong with them. I'm sure I collect stuff that other people couldn't care less about.

[nineunder71]

I’m just a traditionalist, I like the old vintage cards as they are, even in poor shape. Scissors aren’t part of my collecting, but thats just me.. and i’m sure I own plenty of cards that others have chopped away at, haha

I guess its the cutting of the uncut strips into individual cards that really bothers me the most.. IMO, Many folks just don’t understand how much more obscure, difficult, and flat out neat those uncut strips are….. then they cut the Ruth out for the hopes of a super high grade

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

Interesting take. Why? SGC notes that these cards were hand cut so wouldn’t cleaning up a hand cut be the same in your opinion?

[nineunder71]

To each their own, I guess

I not only bought this guy, but I taped it back together and sent it for grading (at the time, it was the only graded example, and I ‘needed’ it for my SGC slabbed set)

I still like it today, so…