Vintage card you need that, apparently, doesn't exist centered

[packs]

1954 Red Heart Mantle. I'm a patient man. Too patient now that everything is expensive. But I might wait forever.

[hcv123]

1971 O Pee Chee Clemente

[BillP]

1976 Brett. #19. Always a killer for me.

[BillP]

Also 1967 Mike Shannon #605, tough for me to find centered.

[KangsKards]

I'll add, virtually every All Star card from 1969 and '70.

[quitcrab]

68 Mays, Hunter and Bill Freehan

[Gorditadogg]

I try not to get too hung up on individual cards, because there are so many different ones out there to collect. But one that I have been chasing for years is the 57T Mantle. That is one I am not sure exists centered (at least naturally). If anyone has a good one I would love to see it.

I am not a Clemente collector and I don't generally collect 70s cards, so I don't know why I have this one.

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

I try not to get too hung up on individual cards, because there are so many different ones out there to collect. But one that I have been chasing for years is the 57T Mantle. That is one I am not sure exists centered (at least naturally). If anyone has a good one I would love to see it.

Here is my copy of a '57 Mantle. I watched Ebay for MONTHS, and various other places until I found one with the eye appeal I was looking for.

Its not super high grade, but it offers a LOT that similar graded cards in that price range just don't.



Also, it was a "PSA 5" when I nabbed it. I thought it might be worthy of a review, and sure enough I sent it off months later, and it got a .5 bump.

I think I paid about $400-$450 for it 3 years or so back. No way in Hell I can replace it for that now.........that ship has sailed.

Excuse the poor cell phone pics, but you get the idea.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

I try not to get too hung up on individual cards, because there are so many different ones out there to collect. But one that I have been chasing for years is the 57T Mantle. That is one I am not sure exists centered (at least naturally). If anyone has a good one I would love to see it.

I am not a Clemente collector and I don't generally collect 70s cards, so I don't know why I have this one.

Is this the Unicorn you speak of?
-

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by BillP

Also 1967 Mike Shannon #605, tough for me to find centered.

This card...lol...


I honestly don't care for a little OC as long as you see border and corners are sharp. But for my two master 69 Topps sets there were two cards I WAY overpaid and searched for to get decent centering -

1969 Topps Willie McCovey
1969 Topps Willie Stargell


I'm sitting on two 67 Mike Shannons right now...one that is centered and has creases...and one that is OC and fairly VGEX (one soft corner) Ugh. Feel like I need to keep buying them...haha

[Harliduck]

Darren...I honestly think that is the FIRST TIME I have seen a 72 IA Aaron that is centered! I have a few, all OC and didn't think a centered version was ever printed! I got imagine your getting PM's for that card...lol

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

Darren...I honestly think that is the FIRST TIME I have seen a 72 IA Aaron that is centered! I have a few, all OC and didn't think a centered version was ever printed! I got imagine your getting PM's for that card...lol

It's the same with the 1972 Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays, Willie Stargell, etc., 'in action' cards. Everyone on the planet can reach out from where they are sitting right now and grab a bunch of these cards. They are that ridiculously abundant. But finding one of those guys NOT falling off the left side of the card? It's safer to bet that humanity will achieve cold fusion before finding those cards centered.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by BillP

Also 1967 Mike Shannon #605, tough for me to find centered.

My God! THAT is one card I remember vividly having as a kid. We didn't have a big league team in Memphis. After Russwood Park burned in 1960, we didn't even have a minor league team until the Blues started up in 1969. Every one of my pals and me loved the Cardinals; they were only 300 miles away, and we had their games on TV on Sunday, and KMOX on the radio came in loud and clear at night until WMPS started carrying Cardinals games. So we obsessed over Memphis' own Tim McCarver, not Mickey Mantle, and all the other Cardinals players. For whatever reason, Mike Shannon was one of my favorites. Maybe because he had played for the Memphis Chicks at Russwood before moving up. And I vividly remember him calling games when he retired. This 1967 Topps card of his really stands out. Just like the one I had years ago, the copy I have all these years later is also way OC!!!

[JollyElm]

Call it a minor miracle, but I was finally able to find another pretty-nicely-centered 1972 #170 Vida Blue IA card, and snatched it up immediately. Woo hoo...

1972vidablueIA170.jpg


208. Cardboard Cryptid
A card that is virtually impossible to find perfectly centered.

[BillP]

Originally Posted by jingram058

My God! THAT is one card I remember vividly having as a kid. We didn't have a big league team in Memphis. After Russwood Park burned in 1960, we didn't even have a minor league team until the Blues started up in 1969. Every one of my pals and me loved the Cardinals; they were only 300 miles away, and we had their games on TV on Sunday, and KMOX on the radio came in loud and clear at night until WMPS started carrying Cardinals games. So we obsessed over Memphis' own Tim McCarver, not Mickey Mantle, and all the other Cardinals players. For whatever reason, Mike Shannon was one of my favorites. Maybe because he had played for the Memphis Chicks at Russwood before moving up. And I vividly remember him calling games when he retired. This 1967 Topps card of his really stands out. Just like the one I had years ago, the copy I have all these years later is also way OC!!!

I think beyond the Shannon card, other 67 highs that come to mind that are tough centered for me anyway, are/were 580 colavito and 605 stanley. I'd also mention that finding the Shellback card without print defects was tough for me as well.

[Bigdaddy]

A man would have to do a little digging, but I wonder if there is a common thread between the placement on an uncut sheet and the cards that have been mentioned. Are they usually cards at the end of the rows? At the top or bottom row, in the middle of the sheet? If the same cards always seem to come up crooked, there must be an underlying reason; it is not just random. And are they low numbers or high numbers? I can imagine a cutting machine getting slightly out of alignment over time, before someone would notice and step in and realign it.