Site Forum

I'm glad I posted the survey. Not only did I get Mark's grading link, but I learned what many members accept and don't accept.

A number of replies made a distinction between modern and vintage cards, So the question begs for another reply,

What is your dividing line on vintage and modern cards?

Speaking of card condition, I'm bidding on this one.  Graded a FAIR 1.5, but the only problem I see is what looks like tape residue over his left shoulder. And its location isn't a problem for me.  I'm treating it like a VG-EX 4 and hoping others bid on it as a FR 1.5.

I look at it from a viewpoint of I'm buying these for me and therefore how they look in the pages is of most importance.  Small creases that you have to hunt to find don't bother me, but severely rounded corners do, but a dinged corner not at all.   The gloss is important and mis-cuts are a no-go, but slightly off center I can deal with depending on the year.  In the tobacco cards I have some with pencil writing on the back and also a couple with pinholes and because they look great in the albums I have no intention of replacing them anytime soon.

Depending on the year I am very flexible with any cards.  As an example if there is a Barry Larkin that is numbered to 10 and it is not in NM or even pretty rough condition it will not stop me from adding it to the collection, but if its a 94 Leaf it has to be in perfect condition.

With the older sets as long as the commons are in good shape it will still look good in the album and then its also affordable even if the stars are rougher. 

On a different note I also noticed that it seems as though anything pre-56 is tougher to find in a nice condition for a reasonable price where there are alot of great conditioned late 60s through 80 cards out there

I'm finishing up the 70-73 Topps baseball sets right now (thank goodness for great show dealers!). My focus has been on Exmt or better so a soft corner here or there (or chipping in the case of 71) has been okay. If it went into fully dinged category I may have picked it up just as filler/future trade bait. I've given leeway on centering as long as it isn't a straight miscut, more leeway for thebetter overall repesentation of the card. I guess my overarching criteria was eye appeal. I take little thing here and there as long as it presents well. I've done the same thing for my vintage hockey. I have a few wrinkles on the backs that I don't mind so much as everything else looks good. For the O-Pee-Chee I have a lot of the cut fraying that exists. The cards look good otherwise and corners are pretty good so I consider the fraying (and not the fraying that is actually damage to the card) as part of the character of the card / era it was made.  

If/when I move back into the 60s I'll be more willing to accept damaged corners and other issues, again part of the vintage feel (and not paying an arm and a leg...).