What's more important- Corners or Centering

48leafpsa

I'm looking to buy a psa graded 51 bowman mantle rookie. there are two that i'm looking at. one is a psa 4 with dead centering and the other is a psa 6, has nice corners and edges, but it's off centered, about 70/30 from left to right. i'm kinda leaning toward the psa 4 because the centering adds eye appeal. i would like to get some opinions. the price difference between the two doesn't matter.

hankcaddy

i prefer a nicely centered card, a littlke corner wear give it a little more of a authentic look, but with a off center card , sometimes it distracts from the true beauty of it.

perkdog

<< <i>i prefer a nicely centered card, a littlke corner wear give it a little more of a authentic look, but with a off center card , sometimes it distracts from the true beauty of it. >>




Agree 100%, there is nothing more annoying to me when a card is OC or Tilt..

bxb

#1 centering

#2 color and registration

#3 corners

In my opinion PSA puts too much emphasis on corners in determining the grade of a card.

Elemenopeo

<< <i>#1 centering

#2 color and registration

#3 corners

In my opinion PSA puts too much emphasis on corners in determining the grade of a card. >>


Agreed.

bman90278

<< <i>#1 centering

#2 color and registration

#3 corners

In my opinion PSA puts too much emphasis on corners in determining the grade of a card. >>



I totally agree!

brian

shagrotn77

Definitely go for the centered 4. Eye appeal means so, so much. And make sure you share the scan here after the buy the card. I'd love to see it!

metsfan

Go with what you like. If you like the look of the PSA 4 go with that, if you like the 6 go with that. It's your card, so don't worry about what others think.

PoppaJ

<< <i>#1 centering

#2 color and registration

#3 corners

In my opinion PSA puts too much emphasis on corners in determining the grade of a card. >>



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Griffins

I'll disagree, to a certain degree. I don't mind a bit of off centering at the expense of sharp corners. I remember opening lots of packs as a kid with the centering off, but sharp corners to me indicate a fresher card.

bking

<< <i>I'll disagree, to a certain degree. I don't mind a bit of off centering at the expense of sharp corners. I remember opening lots of packs as a kid with the centering off, but sharp corners to me indicate a fresher card. >>


I agree with everybody

Seriously, I thik that centering comes first as long as the corners aren't horrible. A card whose corners look sharp to the naked eye should grade better when the centering is exceptionally nice.

otwcards

Ahhh, the old Catch-22...

Personally, I'll take a card that's a little off-center versus a card with worn corners. However, there are times that I'd rather have dead nuts corners and will settle for less than appealing centering if the card is a tough issue to find in NM-MT or better corner condition. Such is the case with my 1948 Leaf Chuck Bednariks, which are notoriously OC. I have one PSA 5 (Yellow Background) that has PSA 9+ quality corners with only a sliver of right border and another in a PSA 8 (OC) that has a little more border but softer corners. I love the PSA 5 just because it may be the sharpest 1948 Leaf card I've ever seen and that includes the PSA 9's and SGC 96's I've viewed as well as the PSA 8 that I own.

Brick

#1 centering

#2 color and registration

#3 corners

As a collector I prefer nicely centered mid grade cards. It may be different for those who buy to flip.

1960toppsguy

I agree with GRIFFIN, I like fresh

aconte

What Anthony said!

aconte

mshups

Centering all the way!!!

Matt

divecchia

I'm a centering freak...

Donato

1954

48Leaf
It depends on the situation. If you are looking for a PSA 6 Mantle and you have a choice between a well centered PSA 6 vs. one that is off centered PSA 6 the obvious answer is the centered one. The value of a PSA 6 will always appreciate more than a PSA 4 from the same year. There are some issues of cards that centering is not as a big deal by the collector like 1954 Wilson Weiners.
There is nothing wrong with buying a very well centered PSA 4.

Good luck

HammeringHank

<< <i>In my opinion PSA puts too much emphasis on corners in determining the grade of a card. >>



I feel the same way, it seems that cornering is always considered paramount regardless of centering when they consider grading...why I'm not sure...in fact I do not believe that centering is considered at all, even though they claim it is...

Centering is paramount to me...without it I personally feel it dimishes the look of the card...that being said anyone collecting should collect what they like not the grade, not the centering, not corners...but what looks good to them personally...

waxpack

Centering for meeeeeee

ezyshooter

Buy both and sell the one you don't like !!
Steve

kingnascar

Centering - That is the first criteria I look at when I evaluate raw cards for submission.

Logan

cardbender

Corners are number one with me.

Centering is a printing flaw.

Worn corners are a mishandling issue.

Pack fresh better.

Morgoth

1. Color and Gloss (pack fresh appearance)
2. Corners
3. Centering
4. Print Defects.


First two can be affected by mishandling the bottom two cannot. To me I would rather pay more money for a card that just came out of a pack and is OC (to a point) than a worn card. I know when JP had his unopened 1959 Topps baseball card find, he was selling his OC stuff to collectors for huge premiums due to the "freshness" of the cards so there are alot of collectors that like pack fresh appearances over centering.

spazzy

I have a 1954 topps psa 8oc aaron. It is almost pack fresh. I wonder if it was centered what it would have graded. I think you have to look at the issue and year of the card to see if you can to decide if an OC is ok. I think misscut cards are another issue though

Morgoth

I am definately talking about 60/40 and 70/30 cards versus miscuts and 90/10s. Most people automatically would rather have a 50/50 card versus a 60/40 card in the same grade no matter what the other attributes of the card look like. I think Ebay buying has alot to do with this since you cant really see anything very clearly other than centering from scans on a auction.

vbellier

I rank corners and surface above centering -- although 80/20 and worse definitely doesn't appeal. I like the pack fresh look that good corners and edges give.

BugOnTheRug

I love nicely centered cards, but will reverse that somewhat on cards with colored borders. For instance, I'd rather have sharp corners and 70/30 centering on 1971 topps baseball rather than soft corners and 55/45 centering.

mexpo75

As long as it is not far off, great color and sharp corners are far better looking cards than ones with perfect centering, slightly worn corners, or fish eye print defects.

obusek99

I'm a bit OCD so my pet peeve is centering. If the card is off than I can't even look at it. Can't even name all the cards I've bought and resold because they had a slight tilt that gave me vertigo. But I'm whacked so...

ThoseBackPages

the diamond cut (especially on the '75s) drives me nuts