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Posted By: Jay Miller

Bob--An Old Judge that is rebacked is an altered card and will not grade. Having said that there are sometimes reason to reback a photo. A skinned Old Judge photo is very fragile and easily damaged. Rebacking the card will preserve the image. In terms of value, a rebacked card is worth significantly less than the equivalent original card. I would say that we are talking about maybe a 3:1 ratio. Thus, an original Old Judge worth $300 would be worth about $100 rebacked. As a skinned photo it would be worth slightly less, maybe $75.
This is an interesting question that could be directed at the John "Phenominal" Smith card that John Billingsley is now lsiting on ebay. The card has a nice photo but is listed as rebacked. Despite the claims made in the write-up, Smith in other than his 1887 portrait is a relatively common card. An EX copy should be worth about $300 and a rebacked copy should be worth about $100. Since the current bidding is almost at $200 either I'm crazy or someone thinks they are bidding in lira.