1973 card quality

tbub

I was looking on e-bay at a 73 bench in the description it says that PSA 8's are rare because of paper quality used. In recently looking at my cards i thought the 73's looked rather dull. Is this so and if so what other years are bad . I know the 71's are tough . Thanks

jaxxr

I have bought a bunch of "raw" 1973 Topps BB over the last year and a half or so.

The paper thickness or rigidity seems to be variable. Some cards are fine and take a bit darker, sometimes better picture ( more ink ? ). The "thinner" cards seem to have just a little better focus, but are a very slight touch lighter in overall color. Both seem equal in corner wear or lack thereof, I wonder if the "tint" variations on some managers' cards are due to the paper stock differences.

I am by no means sure of this, it just appears to me that some paper stock is a bit different for the 73s, only rare differences, if at all, for other vintage years. My 1956 BB has both white and gray back cards and seems to be no difference in paper stock between them. Perhaps some other 73 collectors may add their feelings.

mcastaldi

Looking at the pop report, PSA9s from 1973 don't necessarily strike me as being especially "rare". As of today, there have been 12,170 cards graded from '73. Of those, 1871 have been judged PSA9s. That works out to 15.4%. There are 5,659 PSA8s - or 46.5%. For both PSA8s and PSA9s, the percentages are about average for the era. Even the vaunted 71s have 50.7% of the submissions awarded PSA8. However, the 71s are a different story with PSA9s - with only 1.7% in 9.

I think too many people throw around words like "rare" or "scarce" without really thinking about the issue they are dealing with.

Mike

gemint

The 1973s aren't tough to find in NM/MT condition. Some cards are tough to find in mint grade such as the card #1 and the Yastrzemski. I believe the Bench is also tough in a 9 but not too difficult to find in 8. My main beef with the '73 set is the mismatched backs. Alot of the cards printed have either nicely centered fronts or nicely centered backs but not both centered on the same card. Try finding the #1 card or the Clemente with the front and back better than 65-35.