What's the deal with Strip Cards?

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

Strip card is a colloquial term to refer to cards that were sold in multicard strips or sheets, with the intent that the purchaser cut them down into separate cards.

They are held in lower esteem for various reasons:

1. Ugly: Some of the sets are decent looking, but most would be described as having a good personality and a few are just plain baggers. Compared to the other cards from the era, they are dogs, and who wants to spend megabucks on dogs.

2. Inconsistent Grading Treatment: Lots of difficulties and inconsistencies here. PSA, SGC and the others have had differing standards and techniques for grading, seemingly without any rhyme or reason to them. Some of the cards seem to grade no problem and always have, like W517. Others get rejected outright or qualified as "handcut" by PSA. Without consistent grading policies, they are not collected by certain collectors.

3. Damage: Because the cards were meant to be cut out, and kids did the cutting, and many of the sets didn't have cutting lines printed on the cards, a lot of strip cards are found with lousy cuts, which reduces their eye appeal.