Posted By:
Anonymouswarshawlaw,
I tend to agree with your assessment.
Round corners should not be the sole discriminator to use to label an entire group of cards as reprints - it is not hard for me to envision a large batch of these surviving in storage and surfacing in the 1980's.
I don't think using PSA criteria as to whether or not they will grade these cards shows whether they are authentic or not. PSA chooses not to grade several issues, but that doesn't make them less original. Star Basketball is a good example of cards PSA will not grade - these sets include many completely original examples and from what I understand relatively limited reprinting. Generally speaking, I do not think PSA is going to go out on a limb to authenticate any group of cards that may have some controversery surrounding them or that might take too much additional effort to grade. Additionally, the way the bread cards are cut probably presents some problems. I like PSA fine and this is their business decision to make.
Incidentally, GAI has graded bond bread cards with square corners although I do not know if they still do and I couldn't find any on ebay at the moment. They also grade Star Basketball cards. From a business standpoint this seems like a good way for GAI to pick up market share that is currently not being tapped.
In the interest of full disclosure I do own some of the square corner bread cards. However, it is a pretty small collection and definitely not enough to keep me up nights worrying about authenticity.
Adam