What do you prefer, off-center with sharp corners or?

[Brianruns10]

Eye appeal all the way. Even if they were the same price, I'd take a PSA 6 centered over a PSA 8 off center every day of the week.

Besides, qualitatively, they are two different beasts. Rounded corners are the result of good honest wear, which I find gives the card a bit of character. You know some kid once owned that card, looked at it, got it in a trade, loved it.

Centering, or a lack thereof, is a manufacturing defect, and rather unsightly.

Now, when I can't get perfectly centered, I'll give some leeway on the top to bottom centering, but it's the left-right centering that's a killer. If a card doesn't have that, the eye appeal is shot for me.

[t206blogcom]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Even if they were the same price, I'd take a PSA 6 centered over a PSA 8 off center every day of the week.

+1

[savedfrommyspokes]

Recently, I was flipping through an old binder of cards I have had for a while...many of these were the first cards I collected as a kid 30+ years ago. These cards absolutely meant the world to me as a kid, however, in looking back through them, I never realized how OC some of them were. But all of the creases and rounded corners were just how I remembered them.


So I guess that puts me in the "I can deal with less than perfect centering" camp.

[digdugdig]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Eye appeal all the way. Even if they were the same price, I'd take a PSA 6 centered over a PSA 8 off center every day of the week.

I still scratch my head when I see a grade sticker that points out the very flaw that should keep the card from even being graded an 8!! Of course, I'm kind of a centering nut, so ....

[Zach Wheat]

I think this is what you are talking about.....a great example of 95/5 centering with 4 relatively sharp corners. Wonder what this would grade out?

Z Wheat

[67_Palmer]

How does that work, does PSA give you the option of the higher grade with the "OC" designation or a lower grade without the "OC"?

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by digdugdig

I still scratch my head when I see a grade sticker that points out the very flaw that should keep the card from even being graded an 8!! Of course, I'm kind of a centering nut, so ....

Others disagree, but I remain adamant there ought to be some kind of grade for centering. Or heck, just make it a qualifier. PSA 8 centered.

This would be invaluable when it comes to assessing populations, and what percentage of a card's population comes graded as centered.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

I have to agree. It's been a process for me, but centering and general eye appeal has come to mean a great deal to me. For a while, I fell into the trap of buying the holder and not the card.

[okmaybent@aol.com]

Well... I will join the minority. My #1 priority is 4 sharp corners.

[67_Palmer]

Originally Posted by okmaybent@aol.com

Well... I will join the minority. My #1 priority is 4 sharp corners.

Exactly. There is something about finding a sharp card that looks the way it did fresh out of the pack. Off-center or not.

That being sad I understand the appeal to 50-50 cards.

[MattyC]

I'm a centering guy. I don't mind some corner or edge wear-- for me, that comes naturally with time. It can even add character.

Eye appeal is what I go for, and an OC card is a non-starter for me. Some cases in point in the "centering but wear" category...







All relatively cheap buys compared to their higher-graded brethren, but good centering hits the eye nicely. And some corner wear means it doesn't hit the wallet too hard, either

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I'm a centering guy. I don't mind some corner or edge wear-- for me, that comes naturally with time. It can even add character.

Eye appeal is what I go for, and an OC card is a non-starter for me. Some cases in point in the "centering but wear" category...

Beautiful cards...couldn't have said it any better. I have the same outlook....

[rcp1936]

Going with the centered posters

[CamaroDMD]

Centering for me. OC cards stick out like crazy to me.

[67_Palmer]

Well as it stands its roughly 7-4 for the centered cards. Not as lopsided as I would have thought.

[Bestdj777]

I'd take wear over centering any day, but I am not all that picky. If one of the few cards I am still looking for popped up for sale, and it was off center, I'd still buy it.

[KCRfan1]

I'm in the sharp corner camp. That said, eye appeal always plays a role for me. So, any card that could be classified as OC, would still have to have reasonable eye appeal and not be grossly OC.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by 67_Palmer

Well as it stands its roughly 7-4 for the centered cards. Not as lopsided as I would have thought.

I have to go with the posters preferring 4 square corners...however the caveat is that the card can't be that far off center.

Z Wheat

[horzverti]

I believe that since we are dealing with easily damaged cardboard, sharpness of corners means more to me.

Out of the pack a card can be OC, but will almost always have razor sharp corners. As collectors, we cannot preserve centering, but we can preserve sharp corners.

So if I have a choice of buying a sharp, yet OC card or a centered card with touched corners...I will usually choose the sharp OC card.

Curt

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by horzverti

I believe that since we are dealing with easily damaged cardboard, sharpness of corners means more to me.

Out of the pack a card can be OC, but will almost always have razor sharp corners. As collectors, we cannot preserve centering, but we can preserve sharp corners.

So if I have a choice of buying a sharp, yet OC card or a centered card with touched corners...I will usually choose the sharp OC card.

Curt

I definitely agree with Curt's approach as a general rule. But in the end for me, it all depends on the specifics of a particular card. Some o/c cards don't look too bad at all, while others just make me cringe. When I'm seeking 1961 high numbers, for instance, so many of the All Stars are waaaaay o/c and still have ridiculous BIN prices. I just pass and would have a problem adding them to my set even if they were incredibly cheap. No eye appeal, as others say.

Now, for my 1969 set, it's almost impossible to find a centered Roberto Clemente. There are 8 billion Clementes available out there, but they are all tremendously o/c. So, I eventually found this one with nice, sharp corners and, of course, o/c, but not enough to be too troubling. Not too bad in my mind at all. I have since removed the wax/gum stains.

69clemente.jpg

[hangman62]

I don't mind slightly off center cards..to a degree...I wouldn't want a card cut off so much as to chop the cap off the player...almost to make it appear he had no hair..or the hint of possibly wearing a wig or something

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by hangman62

I don't mind slightly off center cards..to a degree...I wouldn't want a card cut off so much as to chop the cap off the player...almost to make it appear he had no hair..or the hint of possibly wearing a wig or something

Why do you keep mentioning hair, wigs and toupees in your posts?????? What the heck are the rest of us missing?????

[GasHouseGang]

Actually, for a 1969 Clemente, that card is very nicely centered. I remember buying mine, and the dealer had pulled a bunch of stars from a vending box and all of the Clementes were all OC. I just picked the one that I thought was the best of the group. After that, I noticed all of the 1969 Clementes I saw were always off center.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Actually, for a 1969 Clemente, that card is very nicely centered. I remember buying mine, and the dealer had pulled a bunch of stars from a vending box and all of the Clementes were all OC. I just picked the one that I thought was the best of the group. After that, I noticed all of the 1969 Clementes I saw were always off center.

Agreed. Every one I see is way o/c, so I was happy to pick this one up for about $20.

Originally Posted by hangman62

I don't mind slightly off center cards..to a degree...I wouldn't want a card cut off so much as to chop the cap off the player...almost to make it appear he had no hair..or the hint of possibly wearing a wig or something

That would be a miscut

[JollyElm]

Ron, he knows they're miscut and he's just screwing with us. A nice guy, but personally I think Ral G. is losing his mind. Here are his posts from various threads just from today (titles in bold). Notice a common theme??

72 T set
I agree it was quite 70s " hip mod" style when they came out..as a kid..I thought they were pretty cool.. that was around the time when some players like Joe Pepitone started wearing a toupee during the games

O/C cards
I don't mind slightly off center cards..to a degree...I wouldn't want a card cut off so much as to chop the cap off the player...almost to make it appear he had no hair..or the hint of possibly wearing a wig or something

odd card
It also appears that he is wearing some sort of hair piece ??

Vince
OK, OK, lets not get....." wigged out" over this thread !!

?
Does Tony LaRussa wear a toupee ?

cutting
Yes, thats true..in the early days Topps factory did you a "jig saw" type blade to seperate the cards. It was very similar to a " wig saw" blade that they use to cut and shape mens hair pieces

Vin
Oh yea.. Vin come up with some classic lines..what about the call on the Koufax perfect game..".2 and 2 to harvey Kueen".... but the silence on the Puig HR call, Im not sure, with a lot of that toupee adhesive they reccomend no movement or sound during the application.... it helps the wig adhere to the bald scalp

sets
Yes, I agree the atachment to cards and sets is a strong bond. They make a bonding adhesive that men use to hold their hair pieces on their heads also..but I think the baseball card bond is stronger

team
Yes, those Cubs team around that era had quite a few All Star players, that infield was solid with Kessinger, and Santo. Santo later did Cub broadcasts, He had an awful hair piece that was clearly visable on the air

storage
I know the best price on card savers in avail from a dealer at the Philly Show, he usually has the corner booth,Im pretty sure he wears a wig too

Topps photos
Yes, I see that, another tell tale sign of re-use of old photos, it looks like Mays is wearing a toupee, and in the other pic..three yrs later....you still see the toupee peeking out of the batting helmet

dull knife
54T, 55T, 56T,..Im pretty sure a dull cutting knife could also have a negitve effect on a mans hair piece, the horse hair tends to curl at the ends

Vince
Isnt that wig he wears absolutly awful,the guy is like 90...and its a huge pile of orange and red racoon on his head

lots of stars
How about that 1962 T Mgrs Dream of Mantle and Mays..and in the backround I think you see Aaron,Banks, there is another player in the shot also..might by a coach , from a distance it looks like he is wearing a hair piece

[mintacular]

I am moving towards being a centering snob but do still have quite a few o/c cards before I started appreciating this aspect. But the third spoke nobody has mentioned is pack-freshness/color/image, etc which transcends both centering and corners. For example, I think this Maris is better looking than a centered one that is faded and/or banged corner, some of which could get a 5.5. My Maris:

[39special]

Being a low budget collector,I'm happy when I get cards that have corners!!

[Bestdj777]

Originally Posted by 39special

Being a low budget collector,I'm happy when I get cards that have corners!!

+1. Although I've gotten pretty excited about some pickups that did not have corners.

[MikeGarcia]

........I would crawl on my hands and knees over broken glass to someday finally finish my 1957 Topps set , all perfectly centered........BGS/BVG stopped putting subgrades on pre-1979 and the old Red-Label SCD ceased operations , so it's a challenge......soooooo if you have any ''Centering 9 '' '57's and you need lots of money.......thanks , MikeGarcia

[GiantsDude24]

I gravitate towards the well centered card and the eye appeal that great centering brings to a card. If its is worse then 65/35 then I just can't stand it. However I will give certain exceptions to iconic cards that may be off centered with nice corners that I can pick up on the cheap.

[HOF Yankees]

eye appeal for me, the card can have some defects wont bother me too much as I try to own the card/cards. So I guess centering.

like these for example

[Bigdaddy]

For the same money, I'll take a better centered card with soft corners vs an OC with 4 sharp corners. To me, it's all in the eye-appeal and the centering draws my eyes sooner than the corners most of the time.

And like someone else said, the soft corners are really just added 'character' from a life well-lived.

[Rickyy]

When I was building ( well always still upgrading) my topps sets 70-79... I looked for sharp corners... I could live with a little OC... one thing I hate though is those diamond cuts... for my type card collection... I've become less strict... as long as its not a diamond cut, I can live with soft corners...

Ricky Y