When buying vintage, what do you take into account more heavily?
 

Would you all go for a card that presents incredibly well on front but a slightly off-centered back, or one that has very minor flaws or color loss on front but with a much nicer and centered back? I'm still trying to make up my mind but I'm curious what the community has to say.

[QUOTE=GoSportsball;18016188]Would you all go for a card that presents incredibly well on front but a slightly off-centered back, or one that has very minor flaws or color loss on front but with a much nicer and centered back? I'm still trying to make up my mind but I'm curious what the community has to say.[/QUOTE]


I asked a similar question not too long ago. Overwheliming preference for the first option. Back quality seems to be given very distant consideration, assuming the card is not miscut, has paper loss or major staining, etc…

Countless graded examples where the overall grade is high (7+), but the back looks 75/25 or worse.

I have some PSA 1‘s with a ton of paper loss on the back.

My favorite type of cards to buy.

[QUOTE=GoSportsball;18016188][B]Would you all go for a card that presents incredibly well on front but a slightly off-centered back[/B], or one that has very minor flaws or color loss on front but with a much nicer and centered back? I'm still trying to make up my mind but I'm curious what the community has to say.[/QUOTE]

Like has been said, the back is far less important to me. A front centered card, although I was not always like this, is far more important to me than what the reverse looks like.

[QUOTE=cjraleigh;18016206]Countless graded examples where the overall grade is high (7+), but the back looks 75/25 or worse.[/QUOTE]

PSA allows for 90/10 back centering for a PSA 9. 75/25 is the PSA 10 tolerance.

For me I judge cards on my own rubric of front centering, focus of image, color, and cost. I don't typically like paper loss on the back or horrific centering, but if the price is right I will buy. On the front of the card, surface wrinkles and rounded corners don't bother me. It gives the card character and drives down the price.

My advice is to buy the cards you want and whatever slab/raw version you want. I tend to go for SGC 4 to 6 for vintage right now, but I am not scared to go PSA or raw if I like the card.

All about the front.

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depends on the issue
 

If the card is an E card with no real info on the back other than a checklist or a T206 with just an ad on the back then I don't really care and if I can get a NRMT card with a bit of paper loss on the back I LOVE IT!!!!

If the card contains stats or a write up about the player then I'm less thrilled about paper loss or writing on the back. If its a player I don't really care about I'll probably still buy it but it were a Clemente or Williams......NOPE!!!

Front for me is #1 especially on low -mid grade cards. On anything a PSA 6 or above then I consider the back a bit more.

With card prices so high, darn toot'in anything I buy will not have a tilt cut, will not have print dots/blips, not centered worse than 55/45 front, will have good color and registration, corners solid for the grade, back of card is much less important. In the past year I have passed on many, many cards on my want list that didn't fit my criteria. Basically, I want a card I look at and say, "Wow nice card for the grade."

[QUOTE=Above the Rim;18017166]With card prices so high, darn toot'in anything I buy will not have a tilt cut, will not have print dots/blips, not centered worse than 55/45 front, will have good color and registration, corners solid for the grade, back of card is much less important. In the past year I have passed on many, many cards on my want list that didn't fit my criteria. Basically, I want a card I look at and say, [B]"Wow nice card for the grade."[/B][/QUOTE]

This is exactly how I buy these days. I don't care about the slab it is in, if the card is raw, or if the card is not even centered the way I typically buy. If the card's appearance is a great value, I will buy it. I am not even concentrating on players right now. I saw a 1956 SGC 4.5 Warren Spahn and had to have it for the price I was offered on the counterproposal. I also bought a 1952 Bowman raw Yogi Berra because someone listed it at $47. If I see a deal in vintage, I will buy!

[QUOTE=GoSportsball;18016188]Would you all go for a card that presents incredibly well on front but a slightly off-centered back, or one that has very minor flaws or color loss on front but with a much nicer and centered back? I'm still trying to make up my mind but I'm curious what the community has to say.[/QUOTE]

Here's what I look for:

Grading. (I don't buy raw vintage unless there's a sentimental value.)

Future appreciation opportunity.

Cleanliness. No printer marks. I walked away from a Gretzky PSA 7.5 at last year's National because it had a yellow circular printer's mark a little smaller than half the size of a dime. It broke my heart. That card was sublime. Near perfect centering. Corners sharp.

Then I look at things like centering and corners.

Front of card is my main concern. However, the back is important if there is card damage that obliterates a famous record breaking stat line. Examples:Reverse of 62 Maris,61 home runs, 75 Aaron denoting all time HR record stat line. These type of things.