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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

You guys have just raised an interesting issue and Dave is right: collectors that don't want slabbed cards may be forced to pay an inflated rate for certain cards they want but are only to be found slabbed. Maybe the problem is not as acute for low to mid-range conditioned cards but for 7s and up the disparity between the raw and the slabbed version of the same card is exponential. In essence, buying the card slabbed and then breaking it out immediately causes the value to plummet in the marketplace. So the Teds and the Franks out there are knowingly willing to erase some of the value of their cards (at least until they are re-slabbed) in the name of collecting what they want and how they want, with relative value thrown to the wind. You guys are basically the anti-Jim Crandells -- who claims to knowingly have trimmed cards in his collection and won't dare have them released from the slabs for fear of losing value, despite his desire to clean up the hobby by spotting trimmed cardds! Interesting. Let me know when the two of you are ready for your invitation to the NYC Dinner Thread III Dinner.