There is case law on this -- Bridgeman Art Library vs. Corel (1999) "ruled that exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright in the United States because the copies lack originality." (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge..._v._Corel_Corp.)
Miscuts, variations, etc., were still published, and are thus in the public domain. Unpublished material can be a whole other ball of wax, if IP ownership has been carefully managed, as with a few long-term literary estates.
(I am not a lawyer so don't depend on my info for your legal cases, please.)
If you're making an image of a slabbed card -- photo or scan, doesn't matter -- you'd have a better argument that it is a unique, copyright-able work, since the presence of the card's unique ID # etc. make it more than an exact copy of a public domain image.
All that said, it would still be wise and polite to get permission.