Should this Ryan card be cut out or kept intact?

A761506

To cut or not to cut... I have a fully intact 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamps book of the New York Mets. The book itself has a heavily creased upper right corner, but it does not affect the cards in it. There are currently 4 of these Ryan cards graded.

The Ryan card, as pictured, presents two possible problems. First, it has perforations that do not match up with the black dotted lines. I figure I could get around that simply by cutting on the dotted lines and ignoring the perforations. Second smaller concern, Seaver is directly below it, which means I would essentially have to ruin it to get a good cut out of Ryan along the bottom egde because of the location of the perforations. I would be a little hesitant to cut the Ryan directly on the dotted line in fear that the perforations would be so close to the cut, they could completely ruin the card. If I cut the card and PSA did not deduct for the perforations being ignored, there is no doubt I would be able to get a 9 or 10.

Any suggestions with this?

Steve1124

Those perforated cards (or in this case, stamps) are a tough call. I remember sending in a card from one of those Dodgers 100 year sets, where i'd CUT the card out on the perforated lines. To my way of thinking, it was better to show a clean cut. It turned out to be a big mistake! It came back only Ex-Mt (from SGC)!! It was THEN i learned (by calling them up) it would have been better to actually remove the card on the perforation by NOT cutting, but rather just by carefully "manually" doing it (thus offering a more "authentic", or "original" look). I sent in another issue later by using the "manual" technique of CAREFULLY removing it, and sent it in for grading, and it came back Nm-Mt+ (also from SGC)! I realize this kind of goes against your strategy of cutting your stamps out on the dashed lines, due to them being "off" from the perforated lines, but perhaps that in ITSELF is going to be cause for a lower grade. Maybe the bottom line would be to actually CALL the grading company you plan to use, and ask THEIR opinion on it, before you do something you may regret. Good luck!

dtkk49a

I always thought the grading companies want to see the perferations. Almost as if they are part of the card itself. Most of the graded hand cut cards I have seen show the perforation lines.

MorrellMan

I have no experience with this, but I would think if the perforation doesn't jibe with the border, than that seems tantamount to a card that's off center - no matter how well you treat this card out of the pack, nothing can change the fact that it's off center and it'll never pull a straight 8 or 9. With that in mind, I would keep your stamps intact, since the perforations don't seem to be factory perfect (unless, of course, that imperfection is standard for this issue)....just my 2 cents. That's a nice piece, though.

phreakydancin

Ignoring the perforations for moment, would it not be possible to cut with a razor blade straight down the middle of the dotted line, leaving black showing on both the Ryan and the Seaver? As I understand it, PSA requires hand-cut cards to show border on all four sides.

A761506

It would be possible to cut the card directly down the dotted lines, however, I don't know how strong the perforations are, and I would be concerned about pieces of the dotted lines along the left side and bottom falling off because the cut would be so close to the perforations.

PSA classifies the issue as handcut even though there are perforations. I do have another booklet of 1971 Dell cards, it's the all-star book, and in that book, the perforations line up much better with the dotted lines, although, looks like some rows of cards would have an extremely thin edge or two, if that, as the perforations do not all line up perfectly with the dotted lines. I cropped the picture to how it would look if I could cut it perfectly on the dotted lines. As you can see, the untorn perforations along the left and bottom edges would be within the cut borders, and I don't know how PSA would handle that, and there would not be much paper between the cut and the perforation, which could make it pretty fragile.

Steve1124

PSA is kinda unpredictable and inconsistent on those dashed lines. Recall that 1963 Bazooka panel, graded an '8' by PSA, which had NO dashed lines showing on the right side--which completely violates their OWN standards! When confronted with that, they said the SIZE of the card took precedence over the dashed lines! It's too bad the dashed lines aren't slightly INside the perforation, so they'd still show when taken apart. Based on my experience related in an earlier response, i think i'd be wary about CUTTING the card, but would be more inclined to just remove via the perforations. Good luck with it.

Brian48

I would probably just leave it uncut. Went through this dilemma myself years ago with uncut Hostess panels.

bobsbbcards

Josh,

If you want to remove it, I'd do as Steve says and tear it on the perforations (don't cut it, that's a no-no according to PSA for perforated cards). Before I did anything I'd email/call PSA and ask them what to do (refer them to this thread).

Bob