Slabs and UV Light

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

OK, I'm being lazy. Are SGC and PSA slabs UV protected? Not sure I've sene an answer to this question before, although it's likely buried in the technical details on each site. Anyone know?

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Posted By: Matt

I was researchig display cases a while ago and remember thinking it was extraneous that some of the graded card display cases came with UV protection since the slabs had it already. I don't have the documentation of that at my fingertips at present.

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Posted By: Steve

Sadly, slabs are not UV protected.There was discussion on this a year or two back.

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Posted By: Matt

It seems I was mistaken.

Now another question, how come the grading companies don't use UV protected acrylic in their cases? It would clearly provide a major benefit to the customer and for that amount of plastic, the additional cost couldn't be more then 0.25 considering the bulk quantities they purchase.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Matt, here's your answer: $

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Posted By: Matt

SGC raised their prices by $2 a card in some categories - they can cover 0.25 for UV acrylic.

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Posted By: Dave Haas

Believe it or not, but Pro Grading states their slabs are UV protected. Their cards are trimmed/altered, but the sun won't fade them. Check their website.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

If you have a UVA/UVB (longwave/shortwave) blacklight, you can test how any material protects against UV light. Sunlight has UVA & UVB light, which is what damages cards and photos and gives you a sun tna/burn. For example, if a card fluoresces brightly under UVA light (normal blacklight), but doesn't when mylar is put in between, that means the material blocks UVA light. If the card continues to fluoresce, the material doesn't block UVA.

Normal window glass blocks UVA but not UVB, with UVB being the more damaging. The collector wants holders, glass and suntan lotion that blocks both UVA and UVB-- but normal glass offers better than no protection.

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Posted By: Dan Paradis

I wonder if you could get some type of UV "guards" similar to the screen guards for cell phones and pocket pc's??

You could just apply it to the card and peel it off if you sell the card.

I'm going to check into that tomorrow.


Dan

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Posted By: davidcycleback

There is UVA/UVB protective film you can apply to windows.

I bet it's plausible to put the film on your windows and a UV glass over your inside lights, thus making it so no UV light is shined in a room.

If that's sounds a bit too extravagant, you could probably buy and apply the same window film to your antique cabinet or other glass display. Just remember when buying that the film is supposed to protect against UVA and UVB light.