PSA/SGC Slabbed Photos....To Crack or Not?

[Snapolit1]

Those PSA slabs are a hell of a lot more imposing that the old PSA or Beckett photo slabs. Breaking a photo out of those would seem to require some pretty decent tools.

I like the slabs if I am not framing something. I've carefully handled photos in the past and chipped off corners and made small tears despite my psychotic efforts to be careful. Those suckers can be fragile.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Those PSA slabs are a hell of a lot more imposing that the old PSA or Beckett photo slabs. Breaking a photo out of those would seem to require some pretty decent tools.

I like the slabs if I am not framing something. I've carefully handled photos in the past and chipped off corners and made small tears despite my psychotic efforts to be careful. Those suckers can be fragile.

I agree with this. I hate the slabs but I hate damaging photos too.

[Al C.risafulli]

I started putting my cards in slabs around 2005 because I was working on a type card set of Hall of Famers, and at the time I liked to display my cards. I had shelves all around my office, and with all the different sizes and shapes of the cards I'd collected (maybe 150 different type cards at its peak), the SGC slabs provided some uniformity that made them display better.

Eventually I started realizing that they also protected the cards better than I could - not only from clumsy hands but from dust, dirt, moisture, etc. They're not archival, but they're more archival than nothing.

I feel the same way about slabbed photos. They protect these brittle pieces of art really well. I also think that, to some extent, they reduce the temptation on the part of some people to trim them or clean them - the slab makes them lie flat, which improves the appearance of edge tears, paper loss, and wrinkles that often get trimmed away.

I do, however, think that maybe we're getting a little carried away with these giant slabs or plastic laminate that are housing huge pieces. These days I collect mostly large-format 19th Century team photos, and I dread the day when companies start grading these.

-Al

-Al

[Vintagedeputy]

Count me in the pro-slab crowd.

[bowmanred]

I don't collect photos so excuse my ignorance on the subject, but would it help to use a bandsaw to make a clean cut and then separate the halves? Or are the photos in question fragile enough that any extraction process is risky?

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by bowmanred

I don't collect photos so excuse my ignorance on the subject, but would it help to use a bandsaw to make a clean cut and then separate the halves? Or are the photos in question fragile enough that any extraction process is risky?

Here's a recent video we did on cracking slabs....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNLnjjWPIU

I use the same exact method for the PSA's big photo slabs. Using a sturdy wire cutter to clip off one of the top corners is all you need to start the process. Don't start at the bottom of the slab, as the photo sits much closer to the bottom edge. Far better to start near the flip. Once clipped, you can easily pry the slab apart with a knife or screwdriver.

I would not use a bandsaw, as the potential for damage seems greater. Plus, I do not have one, haha.

As for slabbed photos... I had always heard/read that the photos (or any glossy paper for that matter) should never be pressed against any surface. Way too much potential of the glossy paper sticking to the plastic.

A mylar sleeve with an archival backing board is the way museums do it (including Cooperstown). I actually think some photos look quite nice in the slabs, especially when displayed on an easel. I just don't like the idea of glossy paper being pressed firmly against plastic for eternity. Just my .02