Entombed in Plastic

[gorrister]

How many cards have you freed from their sterile, plastic tombs? Today was a slow day for me as I only freed a single soul - a T206 Neal Bell Piedmont 460 25 PSA 3. He's feeling much better now that he can breath the clean air...

[usernamealreadytaken]

I am always tempted to crack out my graded cards because I love the feel of "raw" cards. Just think how much plastic i have saved with this stack alone...

[mighty bombjack]

That photograph is simply gorgeous.

[ScottFandango]

why would you do this?

1. you like to devalue your card
2. you like to risk damaging the card from handling
3. you like water or mildew staining to advance
4 you like to risk damage during crackout
6 you like small plastic shards on the floor or in your eye..

very strange indeed....

any other reasons to perform this "unwise" task?

[Howe’s Hunter]

1 GAI, 12 SGC, 14 PSA. Used to use a table saw to free them. Now, just a twist and the last 4 PSAs and 2 SGCs have just popped open. Not so sure about that whole air-tight seal thing everyone thinks is going on.

[gorrister]

I do it because I'm not concerned about the value. I don't collect because of the value. I like to store my cards in plastic pages - as God intended. Because I'm a type collector and not terribly interested in having the most expensive cards in the highest grades, I can justify it easily to myself. If I had a 52 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 8 - sure, I'd leave it in the plastic. But, I'll never own such a card because I have no desire to have investment grade cards.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

why would you do this?

1. you like to devalue your card
2. you like to risk damaging the card from handling
3. you like water or mildew staining to advance
4 you like to risk damage during crackout
6 you like small plastic shards on the floor or in your eye..

very strange indeed....

any other reasons to perform this "unwise" task?

It sounds like you're buying cards purely for investment, which is fine. Most collctors would probably just chuckle at that post though.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

why would you do this?

1. you like to devalue your card
2. you like to risk damaging the card from handling
3. you like water or mildew staining to advance
4 you like to risk damage during crackout
6 you like small plastic shards on the floor or in your eye..

very strange indeed....

any other reasons to perform this "unwise" task?

Maybe they want to hold their card and not keep them in a tomb.

I break out slabbed autographs the same way. Some people want to collect cards and not slabs or numbers.

[7nohitter]

I freed a '57 autographed George Kell last week to toss in the binder. I've also freed the Berra, Aaron, Williams cards from that set.

[rainier2004]

Ive taken down 100-150 slabbed cards. Im not going to argue slab vs non-slab but cards were meant to be held, put in pages and experienced...like when we were kids. Im sitting on all my slabbed cj's ( about 80 or so) until I finish the set and will free them 1 by 1 and place into my customized book. I dont bust them out yet as I may up/downgrade some. I CANNOT WAIT!

[betafolio2]

I've cracked probably 100-150 cards out of their plastic prisons. Now, as for this comment:

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

6 you like small plastic shards on the floor or in your eye.

I have one thing to say: SAFETY GLASSES! I always wear them when cracking a slab, and you should too!

[bbcard1]

By the way, I am not convince the value of a 1 or a 2 is enhanced by being slabbed. .

[gorrister]

Love the picture Chris (except the Dunkin Donuts cup next to them on the table - that makes me nervous )

[jerseygary]

Man, that picture says to me what baseball card collecting is all about!

[Rob D.]

A box beside my work bench in the basement. Haven't emptied it in a few months.

[jerseygary]

Yet another great snapshot that makes me happy this afternoon!

[Tyler]

I've cracked probably about 100 or so T205's over the years.



1. you like to devalue your card
Lost money on most of the ones I sold, due to the economy, not due to the fact they were raw. (All were low grade anyway.)

2. you like to risk damaging the card from handling
I've taught myself to be VERY careful.

3. you like water or mildew staining to advance
Never thought about this one.

4 you like to risk damage during crackout
I've always been a gambler.

What happened to number 5?

6 you like small plastic shards on the floor or in your eye.
I wouldn't say I like it, but it's a small price to pay for a piece of history that I can touch, feel and smell.

Most importantly...TO EACH HIS OWN.

[BCauley]

Originally Posted by usernamealreadytaken

I am always tempted to crack out my graded cards because I love the feel of "raw" cards. Just think how much plastic i have saved with this stack alone...

The combination of a stack of T206 and a Dunkin Donuts coffee is a great thing.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by BCauley

The combination of a stack of T206 and a Dunkin Donuts coffee is a great thing.

Makes me jealous, but that is one GREAT picture

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by gorrister

How many cards have you freed from their sterile, plastic tombs?

Many hundreds, but most of my cards are postwar. The majority of my prewar stuff is the kind of stuff that isn't graded (police gazettes, Blums, various supplements)

Doug

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by gorrister

How many cards have you freed from their sterile, plastic tombs? Today was a slow day for me as I only freed a single soul - a T206 Neal Bell Piedmont 460 25 PSA 3. He's feeling much better now that he can breath the clean air...

I have only busted out a few - usually when the large majority of a set is raw. A couple of 52 bowmans, nothing higher than psa 2. and one or two in a random modern or post war set here and there. I don't think I have ever busted a prewar card.

Ultimately I prefer raw because I like stacks of cards as I did when I was a kid. My feelings on the raw vs graded most closely mirror SteveB's (although I've never submitted any cards for grading, but I do have a couple of candidates that I'd like to send one day if I get around to it)

Originally Posted by steve B

............. I'm a bit lazy, so it'll probably stay slabbed till I need the space. ......................

I do think the ones that are possibly very nice probably should be slabbed. ...........................
Slab, don't slab, bust 'em out --It's all ok with me.

Steve B

[wolfdogg]

Bunches:d