Tale of 2 1953 Topps Mantles

[Peter_Spaeth]

It's the era of the extreme centering premium. Whether it lasts, who knows.

[aconte]

Comparing these two cards, you can see there is no comparison. It's
not just the centering. The one on the left has weak corners and print
on the cap. The bottom corners on the left Mantle is bad. The one on the
right has a messed corner on the left but it shows with tremendous
eye appeal. Worth a premium? Maybe, but definitely nicer than the
other.

[irv]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

These ex-mt psa graded examples recently sold in 2 separate pwcc auctions.

If one of them is really worth more than double the other...shouldn't they be graded differently?

Definitely not graded by the same guy or on the same day for that matter.

Not sure which is a 6 in my inexperience, but I'd say the cards should be at least 2 grades apart, not the same.

[MetsBaseball1973]

The sales show collectors are buying the card and not the holder, as I read here many times before. Great job by collectors using their eyeballs.

Because the uglier card is more likely a 5. And the nicer one is really a 7. One is over graded and one under graded, and the market acted accordingly.

I would be proud to own the second card. It's really no comparison between the two.

[the 'stache]

And yet, if both were sent to PSA to regrade, the one on the left would be a four, and the one on the right a five. PSA's laughing all the way to the bank.

[Leon]

If anyone thinks the centering phenomenon is going away, think again. As I did some searches on the bay last night, in completed auctions, it was easy to tell the nicely centered cards. Even in the same grade there are large pricing deltas. And as a centering nut, I think there should be and am responsible for a bit of the delta myself!! As to the 1953s shown, I would have paid a lot more for the one on the right with the better centering.

[Sinker Slider]

Here's another example from the last two nights. The 6.5 from PWCC sold for 30% less than the 6 from another eBay auction. Centering is king these days.

[Neal]

I would say both fall into the PSA 6 spectrum, just a guess, but the one on the right is a "better" 6 .....

Like Peter pointed out, centering is a big deal nowadays regarding price.

[begsu1013]

.

[MCoxon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

It's the era of the extreme centering premium. Whether it lasts, who knows.

I just have to believe the centering phenomenon is here to stay.

Any more, under PSA or SGC holders, you can't see the wrinkles or minor corner wear nearly as well as you can see the very ugly lack of centering - thus, centering trumps corner wear - and god forbid - small creases

I know there are threads elsewhere on this, but I think the centering issue will fundamentally change go-forward grading standards, and will also dramatically drag down prices of off-centered (but not qualified) graded cards in the same way that prices of raw cards have been dragged down the past 15 years since grading became prominent.

I'd love a statistical analysis of centered 5s vs. off centered (but not qualified) 6s for high-end star cards. I'm guessing the centered 5s beat the non-centered 6s. I know I just paid way over SMR for 2 centered PSA 6 Mantles...(so maybe this post was my way of trying to justify it to myself!)

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by MCoxon

I just have to believe the centering phenomenon is here to stay.

Any more, under PSA or SGC holders, you can't see the wrinkles or minor corner wear nearly as well as you can see the very ugly lack of centering - thus, centering trumps corner wear - and god forbid - small creases

I know there are threads elsewhere on this, but I think the centering issue will fundamentally change go-forward grading standards, and will also dramatically drag down prices of off-centered (but not qualified) graded cards in the same way that prices of raw cards have been dragged down starting about 15 years ago once grading became prominent.

I'd love a statistical analysis of centered 5s vs. off centered (but not qualified) 6s for high-end star cards. I'm guessing the centered 5s beat the non-centered 6s

I'm not sure. Grading has been with us since 1991 and while centered cards of course always enjoyed a premium, to the best of my knowledge the mega-premiums are a very recent phenomenon. The downside of this is that it encourages power erasing, which as I understand it is not always caught.

[Rookiemonster]

There is currently a very off centered psa 4 mc 1951 mays ending tonight. I was watching to see is it sells for what a two has been selling for of late. I've seen a psa 2 selling for about 1,100 to 1,400 of late. The 4 is still a nice card color is crisp and it has nice pop to it. Let's see what's what .....