Buy the Card? The Slab? or The Front of the Card

[Rhotchkiss]

Depends.

For PSA registry sets (I only have two - T206 and T3), I admit that the number on the flip is often most important; anyone on the registry who tells you otherwise is lying. Its stupid and it may result in a lesser card for more money, but that registry is a powerful bitch and can make one think less rationally.

For most everything else, its all about the front.

The exception to the aforementioned is when I am buying the card for the back. Sometimes, the rareness of the front/back is such that it doesn't matter how ugly the back (or front) is (e.g., 1916 Tango Eggs Cobb). But if I am trying to get a T206 Uzit example, the way the back looks is more important than the front, because its the back I am after.