How important is centering to you

[Leon]

Personally, I generally buy on eye appeal and one of the biggest components, if not the biggest for me, is centering. I will take a small flaw or two, but centering is what my eyes focus on. And of course with many cards I/we collect we have to take what we can find (hence the beater thread).

I really like cards with somewhat of a wow factor, so to speak...
They have to be paid up for but I don't think I have ever regretted it.

[MattyC]

To me, bad centering or poor focus is a defect in the card at birth in the factory. I want the card as it was intended by design: centered and focused. In contrast, in terms of corners, the card was intended to be handled by young people; hence some corner wear has always felt totally acceptable to me.

[3-2-count]

As others have already stated superior color and registration is key when I'm looking for a card.

In regards to centering, its very important to me as well. Although I have a little bit of tolerance when it comes to top to bottom centering, side to side centering must be close to near perfect.

[Eric72]

I judge a card on five broad categories. The following is my order of preference:

Print Quality - (Registration/focus/color, etc.)
Surface - (how clean and free from damage are the surfaces)
Centering
Edges
Corners

Notable is the fact that extreme examples of extremely poor centering or print quality appeal to me, too. I enjoy seeing two (or more) images on the same card.

[edjs]

Depends on the series. If it’s a series that is near impossible to find a card of, or if it’s “that” player, I am willing to overlook things that I would not overlook in a more prevalent card or series. Here’s an example of a card I’m just happy to have one, regardless of it’s flaws:

[brianp-beme]

Come join me over on the dark side. Some may call them off-center, while others might call them miscut. I just call them cards.

WARNING! Do not look at the below cards if you know it will spoil your day.

Brian

[benge610]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Come join me over on the dark side. Some may call them off-center, while others might call them miscut. I just call them cards.

WARNING! Do not look at the below cards if you know it will spoil your day.

Brian

I got a little, "dark side" in me as well.
Sometimes, it's just for the special personality of the thang!
Ben

[Snowman]

For me, it's:

centering >>> surface/registration > edges > corners

[frankbmd]

My opinion will not be revealed here. Who cares?

Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it. If centering was all that mattered, we would not need TPGs so I guess that's a good thing.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

My opinion will not be revealed here. Who cares?

Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it. If centering was all that mattered, we would not need TPGs so I guess that's a good thing.

Perhaps interestingly, the market has clearly determined that the TPGs don't accurately value centering when assigning grades, assuming grades *should* correlate to sale prices.

A somewhat well-centered 51 Mantle in a PSA 4 sold for $48k last night on PWCC. Off-centered copies go for around $20k right now.

[puckpaul]

I like centered cards, but how much it matters really depends on all other attributes of a card, particularly its beauty and registration. I find lots of eye appeal in some cards that aren’t perfectly centered. Creases however always disturb me, and i prefer off-center with great registration to creased, weathered and well-centered. Here are a few cards which i cherish despite the fact that they arent centered better (every thread needs some cards!):

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by puckpaul

I like centered cards, but how much it matters really depends on all other attributes of a card, particularly its beauty and registration. I find lots of eye appeal in some cards that aren’t perfectly centered. Creases however always disturb me, and i prefer off-center with great registration to creased, weathered and well-centered. Here are a few cards which i cherish despite the fact that they arent centered better (every thread needs some cards!):

As a centering guy I would still love that CJ Joe— the image is so crisp and the color so bold, it just "pops" and I don't even notice the centering.

Leon, beefy borders on that red Cy. And always been a fan of that Ted Williams; if not mistaken you landed that on the BST board? Exceptional and rare centering for that card.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Come join me over on the dark side. Some may call them off-center, while others might call them miscut. I just call them cards.

WARNING! Do not look at the below cards if you know it will spoil your day.

Brian

Those are WAY better than centered cards. Centering is by far the least important to me, unless I am selling it.

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Come join me over on the dark side. Some may call them off-center, while others might call them miscut. I just call them cards.

WARNING! Do not look at the below cards if you know it will spoil your day.

Brian

+1 must be a Brian thing....

[parkplace33]

I mainly collect prewar, and no 1 for me is surface, especially dirt. Tons of prewar cards are just direty (stained, gum, tobacco, thrown in a sand box).

That trumps all other things.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

I mainly collect prewar, and no 1 for me is surface, especially dirt. Tons of prewar cards are just direty (stained, gum, tobacco, thrown in a sand box).

That trumps all other things.

I guess it is a matter of preference. I like the stains on my cards (as long as it is not overdone where it covers the main part). I think it adds character to it like the caramel from the CJ boxes on the cards like this or a little dirt it kind of like having a little patina on a classic car