Fatal Flaw - What's the one thing that will keep you from buying a card?

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by ghostmarcelle

The fatal flaw to me is poor registration or anything else that obscures the image. I love a nice clean well-focused image and can overlook flaws in the periphery or on the back.

I agree with this, and the grading companies don't even take focus/registration into consideration.

Besides poor focus, anything with a crease rules the card out for me. I can deal with corner rounding, but just knowing that card was once bent to the point of creasing drives me nuts!

[tbob]

The trimming issue can be a touchy one. I have seen cards which appear trimmed in PSA and SGC holders with numerical grades and likewise cards which I believe are "short" because of factory cuts in "authentic" holders, deemed as trimmed. I honestly believe that if you have a problem with altered cards (trimming), and some do, that you shouldn't take the word of the grading companies as gospel on this issue but examine the card and buy the card based on your own feelings and observation. That said, there are also cards which are trimmed but which are so aesthetically nice that they are, to me, desirable, especially hard to find and scarce cards. I am in the minority that feels that in the future these "AUTH" cards will be worth more than the SGCs 10 and PSA 1s. It may be apples and oranges but look at the prices of restored vintage comic books and see the prices they are bringing.
Just my 2 cents.
tbob

[Matt]

Originally Posted by tbob

The trimming issue can be a touchy one. I have seen cards which appear trimmed in PSA and SGC holders with numerical grades and likewise cards which I believe are "short" because of factory cuts in "authentic" holders, deemed as trimmed. I honestly believe that if you have a problem with altered cards (trimming), and some do, that you shouldn't take the word of the grading companies as gospel on this issue but examine the card and buy the card based on your own feelings and observation. That said, there are also cards which are trimmed but which are so aesthetically nice that they are, to me, desirable, especially hard to find and scarce cards. I am in the minority that feels that in the future these "AUTH" cards will be worth more than the SGCs 10 and PSA 1s. It may be apples and oranges but look at the prices of restored vintage comic books and see the prices they are bringing.
Just my 2 cents.
tbob

Agree 100%. Well said.

[brianp-beme]

I am with Matt on the facial flaws. I am a low grade collector, and accept just about everything, but definitely like to see the player's face unobscured (I guess I am a face man). A specific card that comes to mind (and I have seen it make the Ebay/net54 circuit for years) that I would love to own, except for the fact that the paper damage on front just happens to make the player headless, is a D304 Cy Young encapsulated by one of the major grading companies. Man, I would be reluctant to spend more than $20.00 on the thing, and even if I were to end up with it, his noggin-less body would always get me upset.

Brian

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by perezfan

I agree with this, and the grading companies don't even take focus/registration into consideration.

Besides poor focus, anything with a crease rules the card out for me. I can deal with corner rounding, but just knowing that card was once bent to the point of creasing drives me nuts!

I agree 100%. Out of focus is bad but creases make me crazy!

[rholmes]

A perfect illustration to my funky-name aversion is this e98 Matty I was recently able to Best Offer down enough on ebay to my liking. It fits pretty well with the overall condition aesthetics of my collection. It's slabbed PSA AUT...has the tape and seems to be a bit short on top (whatever happened there happened a long time ago), but the front and back actually look pretty nice and I'm thrilled to have it. In my mind this is the greatest pre-war card ever issued and I couldn't afford it any other way. BUT, if the name was chipped at all or obscured in some other manner I would have hemmed and hawed and probably not bought it.



Brian - a good tangent to this thread would be cards that you can't stand to look at, now that you have them in your collection...

[FUBAR]

my fatal flaw is an empty wallet.....

card wise, it would be eye appeal... i cant pay for something ugly!

[Al C.risafulli]

Holes. Can't stand holes.

I've got cards with writing, tears, creases, bad registration, tape, alterations, wrinkles, poor centering, schmutz on the front, schmutz on the back, scrapbook paper stuck to the back, even a burn mark.

But the only card I have with a hole in it is a 19th Century card of a HOFer thats pretty scarce, and has a tiny pinhole that's tough to see, even close up - and just the same, the hole makes me crazy.

-Al

[bsuttonosu]

In order...

1. Intentional tampering - I'd rather have something that was rolled up into a ball and run through the washer than a card trimmed intentionally to deceive.

2. Writing - Don't know why, I just can't stand the thought of someone writing on a card. Pen or pencil, doesn't matter, just don't like it.

3. Anything that obsures/removes writing or the player - Whether it's paper loss or a miscut, if it messes with the name or player on the front or any important writing on the back, I can't have it.

[celoknob]

Anything that makes the image on the front unpleasant to look at. Creases are ok if they are not deep and through the head. Writing on the front is often unpleasant.

I'll buy a trimmed card if it is one on my very short list of cards that are not commonly available but I need; otherwise I will not.

For some reason, I typically just don't have a big issue with miscut cards.

[rhettyeakley]

For whatever reason I HATE CLIPPED CORNERS! I don't know if I was born w/an aversion to octagon's or something but I hate i when cards have had their corners clipped...this isn't a major problem for most sets but as a Zeenut collector you find them trimmed like that all the time, apparently octagons were popular in Northern California during 1911-38. Many Zeenut guys don't seem to have a problem w/ it but I basically would rather not own the card then own it w/ an octagonal shape... I never realized I was neurotic until right now!

2nd tier pet-peave is the face mutilation. I hate it when there are major creases through the guys face (obviously any damage to the face itself is a deal-killer, with obvious rarity considerations as I'd still like to own the 1911 Zeenut of Bohen even if someone damaged him)

-Rhett

[rholmes]

I haven't put a lot of thought into it, maybe once or twice on seeing a clipped corner octagonal card...but does anyone have a rational explanation as to why anyone would have done that? I just don't get it. Seems very anti-scrapbook, or something. Like, ain't no one gonna put THIS card in a scrapbook (takes scissors to corners)...

Although I did just have the thought that maybe it's the opposite. Were these cards clipped out of scrapbooks? I guess that would make sense.

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

For whatever reason I HATE CLIPPED CORNERS! I don't know if I was born w/an aversion to octagon's or something but I hate i when cards have had their corners clipped...this isn't a major problem for most sets but as a Zeenut collector you find them trimmed like that all the time, apparently octagons were popular in Northern California during 1911-38. Many Zeenut guys don't seem to have a problem w/ it but I basically would rather not own the card then own it w/ an octagonal shape... I never realized I was neurotic until right now!

-Rhett

[Kawika]

Any number of the reasons cited by others in this thread (creased face, poor registration etc) put me off but the number one deal killer for me is bad centering. I'm an OCD kind of guy and an off-centered card absolutely bugs me. If it were still the 1930s and we weren't so caught up in all the murder stories and rhetoric of today's hobby I'd have been the guy trimming his cards just to make 'em look pretty.

Hey, Rhett: This one's for you. A genuine archaeological artifact of ancient California. I am embarrassed to admit that I paid SGC six bucks to slab this sorry mother. At least it is decently centered.

[rhettyeakley]

David, I'm not buying it! No way you can be OCD and also have that Prough card in your collection! That card is beautifully hideous!

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Kawika

If it were still the 1930s and we weren't so caught up in all the murder stories and rhetoric of today's hobby I'd have been the guy trimming his cards just to make 'em look pretty.

That made me laugh. Good thing I wasn't drinking milk when I was reading it.

Doug

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

Holes. Can't stand holes.

I've got cards with writing, tears, creases, bad registration, tape, alterations, wrinkles, poor centering, schmutz on the front, schmutz on the back, scrapbook paper stuck to the back, even a burn mark.

But the only card I have with a hole in it is a 19th Century card of a HOFer thats pretty scarce, and has a tiny pinhole that's tough to see, even close up - and just the same, the hole makes me crazy.

-Al

Wow - my brother from another mother!!!

The one thing I can't stand is a hole...not to be confused with an a-hole, which sometimes makes for a nice card:

[Steve D]

For me, it's any of the following:

1. Poor registration
2. Diamond cut
3. Off-centered more than 60-40
4. Crease through the player's face
5. Writing/marks on the card's obverse

Steve

[albrshbr]

For me it's missing pieces...or paper loss on the front. I love picking up trimmed cards that other wise look really nice.

[brickyardkennedy]

Paper loss or other damage, on the face.