How important is centering to you

[Dandor]

It depend on the card for me. 50's to 70's I Chase centering. The print quality is typically decent for those years and the cards are more numerous than people realize. What separates the cards in collectability and makes them special is often times centering. Finding a perfectly centered 1979 Ozzie Smith sets it apart from the high volume of off centered cards. Prior to 1950 I really go after print quality and color over centering.

[JustinD]

The single most important aspect of the card to me.

I won’t even open an auction with a an OC qualifier in the description and in well over several hundred thousand cards I don’t believe I own a single graded card with a OC qualifier.

Here’s the odd part, I am an error collector though, so if a very significant amount of the card next to the subject is showing I will pay a premium. It makes no sense and I am very comfortable with that.

[sreader3]

Centering is important to me mainly because it has recently become important to other collectors. It didn't used to be that important.

We kids who grew up with '70s and '80s Topps realized that when you busted a pack you would get a certain fraction of cards that were off-centered or even miscut. No big deal. The off-centered cards were just as valuable as the 50-50 ones.

Fast forward. Centering has become a huge issue.

[MikeGarcia]

[QUOTE=J

Here’s the odd part, I am an error collector though, so if a very significant amount of the card next to the subject is showing I will pay a premium. It makes no sense and I am very comfortable with that.[/QUOTE]




....we need to talk .......


....

[G1911]

I pay more for a card with terrible centering.

[glchen]

I'm in the opposite camp as centering isn't that important to me as long as the card isn't horribly miscut. I prefer the card to look more "pack fresh" than centered, and I always hope to pick up good deals where some collectors reject the card because it's too off-centered for them. Here are a couple of examples.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by glchen

I'm in the opposite camp as centering isn't that important to me as long as the card isn't horribly miscut. I prefer the card to look more "pack fresh" than centered, and I always hope to pick up good deals where some collectors reject the card because it's too off-centered for them. Here are a couple of examples.

nice looking Eastern Exhibit Ruth. Great Card

[Hordfest]

A quickly emerging theme here seems to be that centering is a priority if the goal is resale.

If your goal is collecting then off center can be a good opportunity to score a deal on a better card.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Hordfest

A quickly emerging theme here seems to be that centering is a priority if the goal is resale.

If your goal is collecting then off center can be a good opportunity to score a deal on a better card.

From what I see above it could be opposite. I am pretty sure no cards in this thread are for sale. I am way more tolerant in buying cards, less than perfectly centered, for resale....because of the responses above ..

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