Is it just me...

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Posted By: Marc Schoenen

1) PSA does not purport to downgrade for rough cuts. The Allie Reynolds card is a strong MINT specimen. It is not GEM MINT, in my humble opinion. As to its provenance, let me briefly say this. It is a David Hall PSA 10. From the 1955 Bowman set -- there have only been 13 unique cards ever to garner a PSA 10 GEM MINT rating -- 12 of them were David Hall cards. Eleven of them (I am not sure if the Mantle 10 I've seen is his) are either MINT or GEM MINT examples. Most are strong MINT -- this is one example. For a variety of reasons -- I have probably owned/reviewed/handled a vast minority of the Near Mint or better 1955 Bowman graded cards, whether PSA, SGC, or GAI. I will say that to find a card with super-sharp corners, decent centering and no border chips is exceptionally rare. Like a diamond in the rough. The Reynolds is a MINT example. I do not believe that is a tough on the lower-right hand corner. I apologize for the poor scan, but do not know if I can make it to my bank to retrieve and improve the scan.

2) The Schmidt card is slightly off-center from left to right. However, very very slight. Per the standards for PSA GEM MINT 10 "The image must be centered on the card within a tolerance not to exceed approximately 55/45 to 60/40 percent on the front, and 75/25 percent on the reverse." The centering is better than 55/45 in my opinion. I have not measured it in a while, so I am just eyeballing a scan. Top to bottom seems better than 55/45, too.

3) MW -- I did purchase three 1955 Bowman PSA 8 cards from Grade and Trade: Narleski, Giel and Majeski. The grades were not egregious enough to warrant a review to PSA. One was a weaker 8, definitely, with two middle of the road. I do have one different card in for review at PSA now, as I felt it was overgraded based upon my experience and expertise.