OC Definition? 1953 Bowman Color Whitey Ford

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Hats off to you for building this set. I think it is gorgeous, but the centering difficulties have ultimately been too much for me to overcome and maintain sanity!

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[STL1944]

My understanding with PSA is that you decide if you want qualifiers on your submissions or not. If you mark no qualifiers on your card and it is (OC), PSA will deduct two grades from the card.

PSA 7 (OC) = PSA 5 (with no qualifiers)
PSA 8 (OC) = PSA 6

You get the idea.

See example below... It is a Feller PSA 7 (OC). It could also have graded as PSA 5 with no qualifiers.

In terms of what is more preferable, a PSA 5 that is off center but has really sharp corners vs. a PSA 5 which is well centered with soft corners is in the eye of the beholder...

[kailes2872]

Makes sense - so the 7 and 8 above must be near pristine except for the centering to have a straight grade

[STL1944]

Originally Posted by kailes2872

Makes sense - so the 7 and 8 above must be near pristine except for the centering to have a straight grade

That is the case... see below. Both cards have the same sharp corners and similar coloring. The card on the left is not centered and has the (OC) qualifier. It could have also gotten a PSA 6 w/o any qualifiers

[Bliggity]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

Hats off to you for building this set. I think it is gorgeous, but the centering difficulties have ultimately been too much for me to overcome and maintain sanity!

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I've been at this set for a couple years, and it's truly the most frustrating and most rewarding set I've ever tried. Centering is terrible, and registration is even worse. I have always thought the Ford was one of the hardest cards in the set, if not the hardest. I've seen maybe one centered copy before. Plus, the color varies widely... sometimes it looks like a grey cloudy day, other times a magnificent blue summer sky lighting up Whitey's face. Finding the right combination of centering, color, and registration is nearly impossible.

But when you find it, man is it great.

So yeah, good luck . And post if you find a good one!