Vertical Centering...Inconsistency?
PaulMaul
Posts: 4,889 ✭✭✭✭✭
I realize that vertical centering is sometimes viewed differently for different issues. But even within the same issue it seems like sometimes there’s inconsistency. I happen to feel the image being slightly low on the card is usually the least offensive form of off-centering so maybe that’s part of it.
The two cards below look identically centered to me. The Kendall is otherwise flawless. They should probably both be 8s I guess (vertical centering looks to be 65/35), but I’ve seen a ton of 1972 9s that look like these.
ETA: Is the Johnson maybe just a tad shorter, improving centering ratio slightly?
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Comments
I think you got it -- the Johnson is shorter and therefore sneaking it in under the line.
Arthur
I contemplated going with a short Johnson joke but sometimes we have to be the ones that place the balls on the tee.
Arthur
In my experience, PSA prefers cards centered what we would consider a bit higher vs those centered low.
I would not expect anything higher than an 8 if I were submitting those two cards, and would be delighted with a 9. Both are centered a bit low T/B, IMO.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
That may well be. I personally find the low centering more esthetically pleasing than the high in most cases. But I agree I would expect these both to be 8s.
The 9 is an old holder. Crack and resub I guarantee it comes back an 8.
I agree it would come back an 8 on resub, but not because it’s an old holder, it’s only from like 2015.
Neither of those cards is worse than 65-35 centering. So unless there is some other very minor flaw with the Kendal, both should be a 9. Again, this simply demonstrates the complete subjectivity in grading a card an 8 or a 9. The reason I almost always buy an 8 rather than a 9 or 10.
I actively collect Kirby Puckett. I have collections of Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, Roberto Clemente, Dwight Gooden, Tom Seaver, Errict Rhett and Evan Longoria.
Well, the idea that a card with 65/35 centering is going to get a 9 these days is a fiction, despite what the published standards say. It may happen once in a blue moon, but I feel like most of the time 65/35 is the borderline between 7 and 8, not 8 and 9.