Does this Old Judge deserve a SGC 40grade?

[Matt]

Originally Posted by bigfish

Matt,

That image is outstanding. We all have our opinions. I think the grade is fine and would love to own the card. If you do not like a card you should not buy it for the numerical grade assigned.

Yikes - I just disagreed with your statement that the image is a 6 or a 7 - it's terribly blurry at the bottom, especially by the text. Doesn't mean it's not a nice card or I wouldn't want to own it. Serenity now...

[chaddurbin]

wes, i agree with you about pricing for A vs numerical...i just meant in this case for the delahanty it might not be. of course being a potential bidder i'm all for SGC to "get it right" with the popular opinion in this thread....the difference between an A and a 40 here is probably multiple Ks.

[edhans]

I'm OK with a 3 for that card. The superb photo quality more than compensates for the other defects.

[D. Bergin]

The grade is definitely debatable, but if anything I think it serves as an example that you should always see a card before you buy it, regardless of the grade.

Even if the grade is technically correct, many buyers would obviously have buyers remorse for paying an SGC 40 price on this card once they had it in hand, if they hadn't seen it ahead of time.

Disregarding the player, I've seen many Old Judge A's, 1, and 2's recently on this board alone, I would prefer to have over this card, strictly from an aesthetic sense.

Others, I am guessing wouldn't mind. It's all in ones particular tastes I guess.

[oldjudge]

The photo is not faded, but it is anything but sharp. I think blurry photos like this are very undesireable and I also believe the card is overgraded. IMHO there should be more of a tie between grade and appearance.

[barrysloate]

I agree with Jay completely. Eye appeal is virtually ignored in the grading process; and isn't that a part of what grading should be about? Besides technical considerations such as creasing and corner sharpness, how an Old Judge looks is a huge factor in its desirability, more so than with a printed card such as a T206. There are so many things that can go wrong in the photographic process, but this is not even a factor when an N172 is graded. Hate to keep harping but it is a flawed system that needs to be rethought.

[Cat]

When I first saw this card on the auction site, the first thing that struck me was the blurriness of the name and advertisement. It doesn't appear that his image is as burry as his name, etc. The cut is extremely distracting, but I think I could overlook the cut if the name and advertisement didn't give me a headache when I look at them for more than a split second.