what do you look for in an Old Judge card?

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Posted By: MW

Adam --

The three primary qualities I look for in an Old Judge would be type of cut, picture quality (degree of contrast), and corner sharpness. To me, all three are of equal importance, although with some of the tougher cards (e.g., Delahanty, Spotted/dotted ties, California leaguers), picture quality becomes more of a tenuous issue since well-registered and deeply-contrasted subjects are virtually non-existent for some players and poses.

As far as the cut is concerned, N172s are all over the map. Personally, I don't mind a slightly unusual cut if the other qualities of the card are outstanding. Also, I don't mind an occasional small border on top or bottom -- certainly, within some years of issue, who is to say that certain player poses didn't all come with slightly smaller dimensions or less space for the borders? It is also noteworthy to point out that some issues of the same player poses from the same years are cropped inconsistently and, as a result, were not all designed to have the same border widths.

I find the issue of N172 corner wear to be interesting. By virtue of the type of manual cutting that was performed on Old Judges, some specimens originally came with four perfectly sharp corners while others did not (corners were a bit blunted). This unusual quality almost makes it necessary to provide certain allowances for this 19th century issue...just something to be aware of.

Next, there's the subject of those issues possessing a "pink" tint. Some collectors have suggested that this tint is a result of aging while others think it may have something to do with the type of stock that was used. I tend to think it was the latter and I rarely downgrade an "affected" N172 because of this condition. In addition, I tend to believe that some years were printed on a different (whiter?) stock than others and that one should not necessarily downgrade a card due to some types of perceived discoloration.

The reverse side of Old Judges, however, is a different issue. Like any mainstream, blank-backed issue, I think a high-grade example absolutely has to have a perfect reverse side. Examples that have back damage due to scrapbooking or archival activities, should generally not grade higher than Vg-Ex. With most types of writing, I would look at the defect in a similar manner; although I would rather have a card with a small amount of writing than with paper loss.