"Crease" vs. "Wrinkle"

I've noticed the terms "crease" and "wrinkle" being used interchangeably by some collectors in describing their cards for sale. Some use the term "wrinkle" in describing a card that is obviously creased - is that deceptive?

I guess if you have a scan, you can make your own judgment. But I'd still like to know if you think there's a difference between the definitions of these two terms, or is using "wrinkle" just a way of sugarcoating a card that is plainly creased?

I think crease and wrinkle do have different meanings, as, to me at least, they suggest differing levels of severity. Generally speaking, I think of a wrinkle as something visible on only one side of the card while a crease is evident on both sides. Crease also suggests the possibility of more extensive surface trauma, such that the color has broken away along the line of the crease.

As long as there's a large, clear scan, I guess it doesn't matter how sellers describe their cards, but unfortunately that's not often the case.

I agree with yawie. A wrinkle is visible only on one side, a crease goes through both sides.

Oh if life could be that simple.

On an Old Judge with a crease, for example, if the card is also skinned; you will find that the crease = torn in half.

They are very different things. A wrinkle is only seen on one side of the card and generally a layer of paper that got pushed before the it sould set up properly. A crease can be seen on both sides of the card. The exception would be if the paper is broken but the crease/wrinkle cannot be noticed on the other side. A wrinkle should never break the paper.

Jay

I agree with Jay when he says a wrinkle shouldn't break the paper. There are some sellers who really play with their words when trying to describe a cards damage and some who are very honest. Fortunately for me, all the cards that I am looking for have so much damage that I don't really care how it's described, i know I'm getting a beat up card.

Andy

this is important and anybody new to prewar should learn the difference...there will be less discrepancy in grading that way. imo no creased card can be a 4. when i first started collecting prewar i rarely see cards with creased corners graded as sgc50/psa4...now it seems to be more commonplace. same thing with rounded corners (not rounding...there's a difference ).

Quan, about a dozen or so years ago, I bought a PSA 6 BL 350 Collins. It had a HUGE crease in the middle of the card - vertical (almost the entire length).

I am in agreement with you however. A 4 can have a barely noticeable "wrinkle" upon close inspection, but NO creases. Also, if a card has more than one crease it cannot be VG - two or more equals a grade of no better than Good. Of course, we have all seen cards not fitting these descriptions by all grading companies.

A great example of the GD vs. VG grade is a Uzit Lajoie I use to own that was correctly graded in a PSA 2 holder. The person I sold it to sent it to SGC and it graded a VG 40. I never agreed with this grade however, as the top two corners were both creased, plus the corners were rounded. IMHO, the "GOOD" grade by PSA was correct.

this is important and anybody new to prewar should learn the difference

If it helps, I can create a surface wrinkle on a normal card to show what it looks like (for the noobs). Yes...I can make a nice wrinkle that won't press out, just can't plan its exact location.