Another Randy Johnson Marlboro question

TomTim

It's hard to tell from ebay pictures, and I don't think PSA is 100% consistent, but any guesses what PSA would label this? Ad visible? Or partially obscured?

LarkinCollector

Partially obscured is what it should be labeled. However, there is a lot of inconsistency on variations labeling.

tsalems1

My opinion is this should be labeled "Marlboro visible" however, sometimes the graders don't know the difference and may get labeled "Partially obscured".
I had a bunch of these graded. Many times they were labeled wrong and had to get sent back to be labeled correctly

If you can see Marlboro - it should be labeled that way...

tsalems1

Here is what the Partially obscured looks like.

TomTim

Thanks for posting that. If there is any consistency, it looks like partially obscured usually have a solid black rectangle that is smaller than the billboard.

tsalems1

<< <i>Thanks for posting that. If there is any consistency, it looks like partially obscured usually have a solid black rectangle that is smaller than the billboard. >>



Correct , like Larkin said above though.... "there is a lot of inconsistency on variations labeling"

LarkinCollector

Here's a much fuller list of the variations: JWG

Anything that is not the perfectly clear Marlboro should be 'partially obscured', IMHO.

Counselor

In my experience you can send to Beckett and they will definitely label Marlboro error and likely will add green tint to the description

mtcards

Just looking at ebay, you can see multiple variations with the same label. If PSA every decided to catalogue all the different versions it would be nice, but would create havoc with the pop report

timpatg

<< <i>In my experience you can send to Beckett and they will definitely label Marlboro error and likely will add green tint to the description >>



Same here

junkwaxgems

<< <i>Here's a much fuller list of the variations: JWG

Anything that is not the perfectly clear Marlboro should be 'partially obscured', IMHO. >>



Because there are so many different correction attempts, PSA has taken the lazy route and divided them all into 3 categories and even those are three are cross-contaminated at this point.

I have examples like yours in PSA 9 holders that should get the "partially obscured" descriptor but are labeled "completely blacked out" so it's a roll of the dice with them.

When it comes to this card, there are strong arguments to be made that PSA made many changes to the card between the darkest tinting over the sign and the full blackout background (the final version that has a clean, solid black background). Most collectors argue this is ink variance but I am fairly certain there are legitimate, albeit very similar, changes to the background. This portion of the card's production run is responsible for a lot of the confusion surrounding the card.

This is the breakdown, remember there are variances between them but this is the gist:

-Clear sign (one known copy)
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark tint over sign
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark tint over sign, black bar or strip through MARLBORO
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark red tint over sign, black scribble over MARLBORO
-Visible sign, faint haze/dark green tint over sign, black scribble over MARLBORO
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, bubble in upper sign, dark red tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, no bubble, dark red tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, bubble in upper sign, dark green tint <--- Yours
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, no bubble, dark green tint
-Semi-visible sign, heavy tint over sign, no bubble, dark green tint, black bar or strip through MARLBORO
-Boxed sign, heavy red tint over sign, bubble in upper sign
-Boxed sign, heavy green tint over sign, bubble in upper sign
-Boxed sign, heavy red tint over sign, no bubble
-Boxed sign, heavy green tint over sign, no bubble
-Solid black background, sign appears to be digitally edited - no gap between Johnson's ear and fence/billboard in background.