General Card Grading Question

[CowboysGuide]

Here is an example of the type of print defect I'm talking about. Again, sorry this is an 'out of catagory' post, but I felt I'd get the best results for my question based on the expertise of the contributors of this section of the forum.

1964 Philadelphia Bob Lilly: Note the dark horizontal line just below the white top border. I've seen this line on every example of this card I've seen. Similar lines can be found throughout cards in this set, but I can only speak for this one in terms of 'every' card.

[steve B]

That would be a part of the original image. I can't tell for sure from the scan, but it looks like either a piece of tape printed in like the 81 fleer, or more likely a cropping line that got into the picture. The original photo would have had cropping lines drawn on it as guides for the camera operator. looks like he included the cropping lines so the stripping dept could properly crop the picture and they did it a bit differently. So the line got printed.

The line at the bottom of the picture is probably tape.

The left edge looks a bit odd too despite the registration being good. Probably one color masked off a bit too much.

More questionable are the blue specks in the sky at the top right. They could be ink spatters, or they could be Bits of dust or debris on the glass of the camera. Spatters will be solidly colored and pretty random. Dust on the camera glass will have a dot pattern and be the same from card to card.
(or nearly the same, there could be differences in the screening that would change the dot pattern) Some of those things could have been fixed on later printings, but more likely were just left as they were.

So anywhere from 2-4 production errors, the last one maybe a print defect.

The grading companies shouldn't downgrade for any of those, except the spots if they're spattered ink . They may view it diferently, but that's how I see it.

Steve B

[CowboysGuide]

Thanks Steve.

I do have another card that led me to this question in the first place. I got a really nice Bob Hayes RC (1966) recently, and as I was considering it for grading, I noticed a few tiny dark dots. What might be ink splatters that you refer to. So I grabbed two others I have, and all three have the same exact dots. That's when I wondered about how they are treated at PSA/SGC.

I'm a long-time collector, but still fairly new at card grading, and with the cost per card what it is, I want to make sure I'm sending in the best possible cards.

[steve B]

I'm doing the same thing. It's been interesting sending in the first few, nearly all T206s. I've been trying to pick good ones to send in, and I've missed a few things that they found. Then I have to figure out what caused the low grade.

I've also been working off and on at writing a guide to printing errors. I've got nice examples of most of them to use for illustrations.

Steve B

[CowboysGuide]

Originally Posted by steve B

I'm doing the same thing. It's been interesting sending in the first few, nearly all T206s. I've been trying to pick good ones to send in, and I've missed a few things that they found. Then I have to figure out what caused the low grade.

I've also been working off and on at writing a guide to printing errors. I've got nice examples of most of them to use for illustrations.

Steve B

That's a REALLY good idea! I've been thinking of doing the same thing on my website. I have an online Card Gallery where I can point out the various printing issues that certain cards consistantly have. By showing examples of these problems, it could help some folks that may be new to the hobby.