Buying my first Old Judge (OJ) card - advice?

[Belfast1933]

Thx to all for the advice… I will I’ll look for Kevin’s book and clearly the image quality is where my focus and $$ will go

I also like the idea of finding an “A” card with a nice image quality - this is for my PC so I’m not really worried too much about the grade on the slab.

Thx again all

Jeff

[Baseball Rarities]

Would love to take credit for the Old Judge book, but I am only selling them. Board members Jay Miller, Richard Masson and Joe Gonsowski are the ones who created this incredible book. Kevin Cummings also chipped in with the wonderful player biographies.

Here is a link if anyone is interested in picking one up.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=337137

[oldjudge]

Both Kevin Cummings and John Dreker worked with me on the player profiles. Please don't forget John.

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Both Kevin Cummings and John Dreker worked with me on the player profiles. Please don't forget John.

Thanks Jay. I am out of town for a few days and totally whiffed.

Sorry John!

[alywa]

Totally agree with Jay about buying the OJ book... it is the single best hobby resource I've ever seen. It really is the OJ Bible.

Agree on image quality. TPG grades mean very little when it comes to N172/3/5 cards.

If you're on FB, Old Judge Collectors is a great group. There are many passionate, knowledgeable and helpful collectors there.

A word of warning... N172s are addictive.

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by alywa

Agree on image quality. TPG grades mean very little when it comes to N172/3/5 cards.

They're really all over the place if you compare the treatment of OJ's to other cards.

There's more than a few cards with obvious chips of the front image missing (with the background cardboard still intact) getting a number grade that would get knocked into AUTH or 1 territory with other card issues.

Also, because of how we (and they) accept how they were cut you see cards that would be considered "miscut" if they were other cards issues getting a number grade.

Example...

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

They're really all over the place if you compare the treatment of OJ's to other cards.

There's more than a few cards with obvious chips of the front image missing (with the background cardboard still intact) getting a number grade that would get knocked into AUTH or 1 territory with other card issues.

Also, because of how we (and they) accept how they were cut you see cards that would be considered "miscut" if they were other cards issues getting a number grade.

Example...

The cards were hand cut so a miscut here or there is not surprising. Your example illustrates two other things though. First, the card is obviously from 1890. When it comes to putting the correct issue date on the cards graders are either ignorant of the facts or lazy or a combination of both. Second, photo quality, the most important thing for Old Judge cards, is largely ignored in the grading process. It's not that your card has a bad photo for its' type, most 1890 cards have bad photos, but that fact should be reflected in the grade nonetheless.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Both Kevin Cummings and John Dreker worked with me on the player profiles. Please don't forget John.

Let me guess, John wrote the Larry Corcoran bio...

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by Fred

Let me guess, John wrote the Larry Corcoran bio...

I did, how did you know? I finally won one of his cards today as well thanks to Dean's Cards