How important is centering to you

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

I mainly collect prewar, and no 1 for me is surface, especially dirt. Tons of prewar cards are just direty (stained, gum, tobacco, thrown in a sand box).

That trumps all other things.

I guess it is a matter of preference. I like the stains on my cards (as long as it is not overdone where it covers the main part). I think it adds character to it like the caramel from the CJ boxes on the cards like this or a little dirt it kind of like having a little patina on a classic car

[Lobo Aullando]

70/30 or better is plenty good, especially for the time when manufacturing tolerances weren't so strict. If I wanted to put hundreds of dollars on whether something was 50.4/49.6 or 50.3/49.7, I'd get into rare stamps.

[GasHouseGang]

I like good centering if I can get it, but I like the card to look as close to "pack fresh" as possible. I understand why there is sometimes a premium on centered cards, but centering isn't the most important thing to me when deciding on what card to purchase.