What are the toughest cards to find centered and in NrMt/Mt condition from 1952-75?

reggie1

I've read the population report and know what are the toughest cards in PSA 8 and higher, but how many of these have 60-40 or better centering. There must be a fair amount of cards from the 4 major sports that are almost impossible to get 60-40 or better and in NrMt/Mt condition. I've had over 600 1952 Topps Hi # 's and it seems certain cards are very difficult to find any better than 65-35. Which cards carry a large premium based on centering?

jrdolan

If I buy a pack (any year) and open it, I can guarantee the most valuable card will be centered 75-25 or worse. Commons and dupes will be 50/50, of course.

This has nothing to do with the year, it is me. I have a magical aura. Don't let me be within 100 miles when you open your packs, unless you want your best cards to have qualifiers.

schr1st

I'd say (focusing on baseball): 1957, 1959, 1961, and 1964 would be the real toughies as far as I'm concerned. Maybe it's because I specialize in 1957, but it seems that when it comes to buying PSA 7's from the set, you have a choice between nice corners and poor centering/focus, or pretty nice centering but corner problems; there isn't a happy medium (IE: 60/40 centering and a slight touch on a corner).

FB

reggie,

The info that you're looking for is the key to profitable raw card searching.

In honor of all the guys that plan to be sifting through raw cards later in the week at the Nationals - I will hold off on my reply until next week. I don't mind sharing, but I'd rather not give away the "golden goose" when myself and a number of others have spent so much time, energy and money figuring it out on their own.

Next week - I'll be able to help you out with the most difficult centered Topps baseball cards from 70, 71 and 72.

mikeschmidt

Reggie:

Also note that there is a bit of an anomoly present, too. When you have low population PSA 8s - the worse-centered ones are the ones that inevitably make their way to the market. Some of the bigger collectors will trade up and pay huge premiums for the well-centered 8s.

Tough-centered cards from the 1955 Bowman set include #153 Eddie Robinson, #154 Frank Lary, #232 Birdie Tebbets and #300 Tommy Byrne.

bobsbbcards

ms,

You better be careful because with your new signature line picture, somebody might accuse you of "schilling".

Bob

robstar

In hockey, the 1958/59 #66 Bobby Hull rookie is notoriously o/c.

The only one i've seen graded or otherwise with better than 65/35 centering
seemed to be a little undersized.

Also, the rc's of Darryl Sittler and Bobby Clarke from the 70/71 OPC series seem to be
impossible to find better than 60/40.


Rob....

interchanges

You must be talking about topps issues, otherwise Wilson Franks would probably take the cake.

RedHeart54

1967 Topps baseball "leader" cards are about impossible to find without a diamond cut. I waited forever to get one of the Koufax cards without such a cut. (I'm still looking for the other one.)

BugOnTheRug

for starters, how about 1970 topps baseball All-Star subset #'s ................ maybe not the toughest, but tough nonetheless.

BOTR

67standup

1973 OPC #1 HR leaders and #100 Aaron, POP report lends credence to this.

hbsturn

Is anything tougher than 1957 Topps basketball? Even the graded psa 8's look like 7's...or worse! Also, when was the last time a psa 9 of any card from this set was available for purchase? (By the way, if anybody out there has any psa 8's or 9's - I'm buyin'!!)

jason045

How about the '66 Topps #96 Filipe Alou. This card is almost always diamond cut. Population of 6-8's and 1-9.

Fuzz

1966 Topps Football Checklist #132.
Pop in 9 -- 0
Pop in 8 NQ -- 0
Pop in 7 NQ -- 2
All the 8Q's are badly miscut and many are MC.

Nicky

Although there are many 8s and 9s out there, I always thought the 1975 Topps Baseball suffered from serious centering problems!

kehfee

1961 Topps are sneaky or at least they can be.

I found three real nice Maris cards that would have been PSA 9 had it not been for the damn centering.

I believe its number #16 Willie Kirkland. I've seen a few of these cards and none of them were centered right. I know there are three or four other 61 commons that are real hard to get in a PSA 8 or higher.

I'd like to see the front and back of a perfectly centered Reggie Jackson 69 Topps Rookie. I have had two with 80/20 front centering and 50/50 back centering... Something was wrong with those sheets or something....

pc

1966
#216 224 544 580 gets 9s with 75/25 centering

Mantlefan

From my experience: 1957 Topps BB #300 Mike Garcia 1961 Topps BB #133 Ralph Houk.

WinPitcher

1961 topps cerv card is a tuffy too.