1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311

Hmm. sharp corners and edges. Awkward centering. The borders look bright as the day the card came out of the pack. Perhaps because is was taped down in an album to keep it protected.

Goodness... Imagine if the tape stain wasn't present...? OC a little too much for my liking, but the bright white boarder, sharp blue color and sharp corners...I could see how a collector could "look past" the tape stain.

First thing I see is the top left tape. But then Mantle's image and the colors really pop. Bottom left tape is barely noticeable.

Tape is really distracting for me, as are extreme centering issues. I can’t get past the top border.

While this Mantle card boasts wonderful print registration and vivid color, its off-centered nature lends it a certain imperfect charm. Yet despite that visual appeal, there is not enough Goo Gone to salvage this eye appeal review.

Beautiful card. What it could’ve been without the tape marks.

This a really interesting example of a card that received the lowest technical numerical grade, but has a lot going for it outside of tape stains. The colors are great, as are the corners. Ultimately, this falls in the "C" range for me, which means the eye appeal firmly exceeds the technical grade.

Man this was a DIFFICULT card to assess in terms of eye appeal. Kind of fascinating case. On one hand, my eye is drawn hard to the tape. Yet after that, the clean, smooth surface and imaculate blue and even the white borders start to work together to charm you. Those aspects sweet talked me all the way up to C+, which is strong for a 1, which should logically be an F. If the tape was only on the bottom left, this would be even higher.

Wow and what a shame. This card Pops and the Colors and image is really sharp. Borders and corners are good but WOW that tape really drags it down. The placement is not the worst and I would love to have the card but the tape just draws my eyes for the wrong reasons