T2o6 Recently Sold WaJo, Paying for the Card or the Flip...?
 

By all means a decent card, but a 5...? Grading is funny. A lot of faith (and money) based on someone else's potentially biased opinion and the corresponding piece of plastic above the card.

I would say paying for the flip on that one, keep in mind that's an early 90's PSA flip at a time they were more liberal with their grading. Here's another Johnson 5 for comparison just cuz I love this card.
_

Great card Casey. Definitely more of what I'd expect out of a 5. Good point on the early psa grade, that wasn't lost on me either. I guess I was more surprised that someone would pay this much for a card that, in my estimation, looks more like a 2 or 3.

Even for an early slab that is egregious. That was never a 5 EX except in the eyes of someone trying to sell it.

Would be a 2.5 right now, IMO.
If the buyer wants some easy cash and the card instead of the flip, they should send it back to PSA under the grade guarantee. They can get it back with a 2.5 grade and a large check to pay for most of it.

Nice card, Phil, but I can't see that being a 5, either. The corners? What's a "flip" mean in this context?

The flip is the piece of paper with the grade on it.

Hi Hank,
As John said the flip is the holder/label. When I bought this card it was the centering, color, and registration that attracted me, not the number on the label. I've always been quite mesmerized by this particular card depicting your grandfather, and the edges/corners to me are perfect, the way all 100+ year old cards should look. Hope you and the family are well.

Much appreciated, Phil, and the same to you and yours. I wasn't disparaging the card, it's a beauty, and I agree completely with the gist of the thread that cards should speak for themselves. But it does seem that earlier grading was looser, much looser in some cases, and that's great for collectors holding those cards and to some extent would be reflected by auction results.