PSA Debacle - What to do for a Novice Collector?

[Exhibitman]

Hence the "reputable dealer" part. Like Scottsdale Baseball Cards. I know Brian wouldn't sell a dodgy card and if one did get by he'd make good on it.

However, buying a lower grade card and cracking it out is a good strategy too. Though the newer PSA holders and the Beckett holders do make that a challenge to safely execute.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

However, buying a lower grade card and cracking it out is a good strategy too. Though the newer PSA holders and the Beckett holders do make that a challenge to safely execute.

I've followed this strategy a lot here in 2018-19. PSA does remain the most difficult slab to crack correctly. Some give up easily and the two sides separate as if held together by weak Elmer's glue. But others are drudgery and take forever going a centimeter at a time down the seal on each side...

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Hence the "reputable dealer" part. Like Scottsdale Baseball Cards. I know Brian wouldn't sell a dodgy card and if one did get by he'd make good on it.

However, buying a lower grade card and cracking it out is a good strategy too. Though the newer PSA holders and the Beckett holders do make that a challenge to safely execute.

Moser, Card-guy and 100's of others don't seem to have any troubles cracking the cards out of holders. They should teach a class on it....and the spa treatments they offer.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Though the newer PSA holders and the Beckett holders do make that a challenge to safely execute.

Cracking slabs on the whole is more difficult in some cases than it used to be, but still not prohibitively so if you do some research and take your time. There are multiple YouTube videos out there for each TPG. SGC is perhaps the easiest; you just compromise the seal in the sides and usually can slowly pull the 2 sides of the slab apart. Beckett looks the most intimidating, but just because the slab works like a shoebox - the top half sits on the lower half like a lid. If you take pliers or a cutting tool and snip off both edges and can get a little torque on one side - you can flip up the “lid” part of the upper slab just like on a shoe box and it will (at least in my experience) start to give very easily. Beckett of course then you have to cut the card out of their “inner sleeve” - which unlike a penny sleeve is sealed at the top as well. This is self-evident, but you have to be careful with whatever scissors you use not to get too close to the card. PSA I think is the most difficult to bust - because in my experience their QC and the quality of their slab strength and seal, etc. are all over the place. You start by snipping corners just like with Beckett. But then you have to work the seal more slowly with a flathead screwdriver all the way around. This is where I have found that some then pop-up easily, but others - sometimes maybe older ones - give only grudgingly and you will have a lot of small pieces of plastic break off, and a lot more start and stop.

The only card I have ever damaged was with an SGC slab before I properly understood that you could just pull the sides apart. I instead tried to open it as if it were a PSA slab by cracking up the sides with a screwdriver. When I did this, unfortunately the weak plastic on the face of one side of the slab began to splinter, creating a lot of super tiny and razor sharp pieces of plastic at the area where it broke. Unfortunately that card was a ‘56 Clemente. I turned it from a 5 into a 2 in about 30 seconds... :-(




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[Oscar_Stanage]

What does it mean if the cert # is not in the PSA database? I am looking at buying a card, but when I lookup the cert #, it says "no information found"

Is the slab just really old?

[swarmee]

Contact PSA. They may have removed it for a reason.

[Oscar_Stanage]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Contact PSA. They may have removed it for a reason.

thank you, John.
I did. The problem is this is an item closing at auction tonight... so doubtful I will have an answer in time.