T206 Larry Doyle Released From Prison
 

It may be foolish (or crazy), but I simply like the way they look in my $4 Rite Aid photo album binder...

Cool.

Are SGC holders easy to crack open compared to PSA for instance? What are the hardest to open?

I wonder if he signed the card during his incarceration.:D

Provenance matters.;)

Both SGC and PSA are both easy. BVG.....not so much, but still doable.

I always put a screwdriver right on the top, and lightly tap with a hammer until I've cracked it. And then carefully open it after that. I've become like a skilled car thief; I can get in and out in about 20 seconds!

You should go into business for yourself! I've already got a name for your new business - The Crack House.

:D

If I may say, you have a beautiful collection there, Brendan. I like vintage cards in the SGC slabs, but I think it does look better in your binder. Chapeau!

i like it too! very nice :cool:

"The Crack House"; I like it. Send your cards my way, I'll break them out for you!

And Bill, really appreciate it! I'm down to about 50-60 left. They do look so much better in the binders. It's so much nicer to be able to hold a card in person, rather than holding a plastic slab.

Truth be told, I'd much rather be able to hold the cards I buy that look at them behind a sheet of plastic, too. That's the way they are meant to be appreciated. But I'm so worried about dropping them, or soiling them, or doing something stupid. I'm just enough of a klutz where I'd end up messing up a corner putting a card in a top loader, or a binder page.

Fantastic

Nice job, I would do the same thing.

The easiest way to crack a slab is with a butter knife. Just put it in the seam and twist, it will pop right open. You will have to move down the edge and repeat...

To open a BGS slab you need a jackhammer and a PhD. Still doable though.

Most jackhammer operators do not have a PhD. However, most PhDs cannot operate a jackhammer.:D

Thanks everyone. Maybe I'll post some more pics of the binder. I even have a Cy Yound throwing that was busted out of a PSA 6 or 7 I think...

Brendan please post more, I really like seeing pages and pages of raw cards.

When I first started chasing the Monster, I liberated a dozen or so slabbed cards. I got away from buying them for a hundred pick-ups or so. I wound up with three that I never got around to cracking. Now, another couple hundred cards later, I am relenting and buying slabs. It is either that or not find the guys I need. I think I am up to twenty-ish. The highest is a PSA 4. At this point, I am not sure if I will crack them or not. I might though. I could always use the cardio:D

Chris, I definitely will when I get home. It's a beautiful thing. I do, however, need to maybe think about updating my $4 binder. You have some great cards yourself...

Mike, bust them out, put 'em in a binder. So much easier to look at, and carry around, and show off, etc. I assure you, you won't regret it!

But do you have to shift them all down one when you get a new card? I notice they are alphabetical...

Haha, no. I figured it all out beforehand. I have all of the southern leaguers up front, together, separate. And then all of the rest.

Wow. I'm ok with busting cards out, or grading them, or whatever.

But I don't think I'd have the guts to bust out a card like that to put it in a page. I have a number of fairly nice cards that got down into my price range because of damage that's almost certainly from less than careful removal from a page. That was one reason I went to screwdowns then toploaders. I was getting stuff I didn't want to mess up. (Not that any storage method is free from risk.)

Good for you for doing it your way.

Steve B

Some more random cards from my binder, all raw, with many freed from plastic tombs...

Oh my :o

This is great to see.

The ultimate binder collection was Joe Pelaez' - it was really a thrill to just turn the pages and see all those wonderful cards, just one thin layer of plastic from your eyes. A couple of us have tried twice (through REA) to win his 2nd binder set of T206's, but both times it has gone through the roof. My plan had been to fill up one binder page with his original cards and frame it, as a tribute. Oh well :(

my 2 pennies worth - I love raw cards, and always say buy the card not the grade, but when I buy graded ones i would never crack them out (unless im looking for a re-grade) they are so well protected and I think look nice slabbed.

Thanks Scott. Would love to one day put together a binder like that. I'm about 50-60 away....

They are all Easy to Crack
 

None of the holders are difficult to crack open. SGC and PSA are very similar and the easiest method is the screwdriver approach.

BGS is equally as easy, but requires a different method. You get wire cutters and snip off either the top right or top left corner. It snaps off super easy. After that, you jimmy the case open with the screwdriver like you would an SGC case.

BGS cases are different because there is no external center seam to crack open like the other cases. But, they are still super easy to open up.

This is good to know...howz about GAI...any tips?

After they bust out and are in the crack house send them my way to the safe house. I'll hide them out and give them a safe house indefinitely!