I had a few reprints in my Last Topps Cards of Hall of Famers collection because at one point in time the card in its original issue seemed out of reach, for whatever reason. The 1956 Phil Rizzuto was one of them; but I recently started watching items on ebay and checking out sold items to try to ascertain if, in fact, I could actually afford them.
Condition is perhaps the main factor in a vintage card. For the purposes of this blog, I define vintage as pre-1984 which is when I was first really into collecting. We considered 1970s cards as Vintage back then. They were older; they felt older; they looked older; and they often depicted players no longer playing. When I collect "vintage" cards now, I have a general sort of scale as to what I think is acceptable. For the 1970s, it better not be creased. For the 1960s, I will accept very minor creases; but the corners better not be that atrocious or rounded or whatever. For the 1950s, you can give me all the round corners you want and I'll smile and be thrilled to own it. I still don't really want creases; but they are fine so long as they don't, in my eyes, ruin the card in a major way. Corners. Ok, I guess. But across the whole card or the players face? Probably not going to go for it. I also want to see the border. Even if it's a slim line from being miscut, or perhaps, GASP, even trimmed.
The one that I don't want in any of these cards, no matter how old, is paper loss. Maybe possibly some minor paper loss. But not anything that obscures/removes information from the back of the card for it's the back of the card, with the stats, that show the player is a Hall of Fame player.
I recently upgraded from a reprint of Phil Rizzuto's 1956 card. I think I got a nice card and for a price that was completely and totally reasonable.
And then there were four.
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