Options
Since we are talking about centering...
jimrupprecht
Posts: 75
Ok, here's a challenge of sorts.
Below are five sets of cards for you to evaluate. I want you to focus only on centering, so I am only showing you the card margins. What you must do with your eyes only (NO MEASURING) is to decide which group is the first group that, in your opinion, should have the OC qualifier on the holder. This is not about specifications, just about visual preferances. Look, vote, discuss, lather, rinse, repeat.
Oh, forgot to say this originally... This assumes a card graded NM-MT 8.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Below are five sets of cards for you to evaluate. I want you to focus only on centering, so I am only showing you the card margins. What you must do with your eyes only (NO MEASURING) is to decide which group is the first group that, in your opinion, should have the OC qualifier on the holder. This is not about specifications, just about visual preferances. Look, vote, discuss, lather, rinse, repeat.
Oh, forgot to say this originally... This assumes a card graded NM-MT 8.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
0
Comments
B should be the cut-off for a 9, and C for an 8 in my opinion
-Will
In all seriousness, I was just using industry guidelines for centering
Say what you want about the BOTN thing, but it's a private message board, and Joe had every right to kick him off.....there is a difference between disagreeing with a few psa grades, and outright slander. For every questionable graded card, there are thousands of accurate psa graded cards.....no one ever seems to mention those. PSA is the best, most consistent grader out there
-Will
C looks bad - probably within specs - but just based on borders - looks off-kilter to my eyes( and I'm an umpire so I;m blind by default)
Houston
1955 Topps All-American (raw or PSA graded)
I think group C is 60/40 which would be within PSA (or SGC) standards for a 9. I think that D is 65/35, so good for an 8. I find D acceptable and clearly different than E. I suspect that E is 70/30 which is the "stretch" for an 8...which, I think is the root of the recent discussion.
I must also note (because it has come up) that this topic is not intended to be a debate (or criticism for that matter) of PSA's standards but rather a debate about what you find acceptable for your collection.
One question that I had as I prepared this topic... Is centering really an absolute, or does it really have more to do with eye appeal? Looking at the examples, as the centering gets worse I a much more bothered by the card on the far left then the middle one, yet in each image the centering is the same for all three cards.
Ok, discuss...
With the horizontal 1955 Bowman cards, the left and right borders are gargantuan. In my mind, those need to be centered 60/40 or better to have good eye appeal and be a respectably-centered card. On the other hand, the top and bottom borders are miniscule. I usually do not even notice them very much unless they are worse than 70/30.