Slabs - Truly Protective or Harmful?

[KMayUSA6060]

At what point will we start to see the residual effects, if any, of our cards in slabs?

[bn2cardz]

The baseball hall of fame has concerns:

...the most startling piece of news for the hobby world was the museum’s disdain for what has become the Holy Grail of card collecting – the slab, a plastic encapsulation designed to protect valuable items (cards, autographs, ticket stubs, etc.) and prevent fraud.

Yes, the museum staff immediately breaks open every slabbed item donated to their collection (Editor’s note: Key word there is “donated,” not items on loan).

The problem with the slab? With several different products for slabbing in the marketplace, the museum has no way of knowing whether any particular petroleum-based plastic slab is likely to cause damage in the long-term to a vulnerable card or other paper item encased in the slab. The practice of slabbing began recently enough that there is not a long enough track record to be certain that damage will not result over time.

http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.co...slabbed-cards/

To be fair they did go on to say that it also has to do with the amount of space the slabs take.

Here is a thread that was started when that article came out:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=223468

[Peter_Spaeth]

I am sure our slabs are made of nearly inert plastics. Stored indoors, out of light, not in a humid cellar, I would think they would be fine for a very long time.

[packs]

Yeah what's the worry exactly? Has there been any instance of a card being damaged while inside of a holder by the holder?

[sterlingfox]

Originally Posted by packs

Yeah what's the worry exactly? Has there been any instance of a card being damaged while inside of a holder by the holder?

Yes, I've seen a few SGC slabs where the card got damaged by sliding around and getting over or under their gasket.

Just got another one like that, and am debating returning it or getting SGC to re-slab it (hopefully at no charge) at the next National.

The card slid over the gasket and got jammed under the label. When un-jammed, the corner became nicked with a tiny piece of paper loss!

This was, unfortunately, a very nice tobacco era card...my reasons for keeping it, if I decide to, are that I still like the card, the damage won't affect the "Authentic" grade, and most importantly, I'm afraid that shipping the card will damage it further (it's what caused this in the first place).

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by packs

Yeah what's the worry exactly? Has there been any instance of a card being damaged while inside of a holder by the holder?

As Dmitry mentioned, yes, I have seen instances where cards are misplaced inside the slabs, causing them to slide around or get pinched and damaged.

The main reason for my question is grading is still relatively new, all things considered, and I've never heard of any of the companies stating what their slabs are made of, or what technology is used to insure the ultimate protection beyond the obvious holder. I don't know exactly when the first "slab" came around, but say we're in year 20. What if by year 30, we find out the plastics are corrosive? It could be too late for some cards.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by packs

Yeah what's the worry exactly? Has there been any instance of a card being damaged while inside of a holder by the holder?

As the article I linked states:

"The practice of slabbing began recently enough that there is not a long enough track record to be certain that damage will not result over time."

Plastics have been seen to destroy other artifacts over a long period of time. At this point the concern comes from the uncertainty of these plastics.

[drcy]

Relative (emphasis intentional) to other ways of storing-- including other ways you would store the particular card--, I think the slabs are okay. If you put it in a penny sleeve and top loader you aren't certain how it will be in thirty years either.