So crack the slab or not?

[Cardboard Junkie]

I am, (sob, sob) a "Crack addict! I buy-em and bustem out all the time. Aloha, Dave.

[almostdone]

Bust 'em and set 'em free!!

You wouldn't hesitate to add the Foxx to a page if you found a nice example raw so why debate. It's not like the seller i making you pay for the slabbing fee that they did so let them go.

Cards are like children. You protect them for a while but the greatest joy is see them free when you can enjoy them the way they were created. (ok, maybe a bit to philosophical. My wife and I just found out we are expecting again so I'm relating everything in life to parenting)

Drew

[Big Six]

I will say that I have both slabbed and raw cards in my collection...but the older or more valuable the card, the more likely you will find it in a slab in my collection. The reason is pretty straight-forward...protection. I look at my cards ALL the time and I like to share them with friends and family, too! It is a lot less stressful to share my T205 Mathewson with a kid or elderly person who doesn't necessarilty understand what they are holding or what it is worth. My three daughters look at my cards all the time and I love knowing that the chance of them doing any real damage to the card is minimal...because they can hold the card (in the slab) and look at the picture and read the back, I think they are more interested in what I do with the hobby. If the cards were in pages or flimsy holders, I would be A LOT less likely to let everyone see/touch them. I also like the uniformity that having things in slabs offers...not to mention that having them slabbed makes it much easier to catalog for inventory, set progress, insurance reasons. Hate to say it, but I like my cards in slabs...

[rainier2004]

Congratulations Drew!!!!

Good news on the board as another member just got engaged and received a cobb t206 for an engagement gift!

[yanksfan09]

Matt,

I agree that the slabs are great for protection. I like being able to go through a stack of slabbed cards and not having to be extremely delicate with them, especially if others may be handling them. I buy raw and slabbed, but I've never cracked a slab open. I may though if I had a lot of raw cards and wanted to display a slabbed card with them to keep everything the same.

I would say that the penny sleaves for graded cards are a must. I hate when I buy a slabbed card and the case is blurry with lots of scratches and scuffing. If it's real bad sometimes you may have to crack it open or resubmit to get reholdered just to see and enjoy the card.

It depends on the set, but I love the way many look in the SGC holders with the black around them. It's like framing a canvas painting. Some look nice with a frame and others look great raw. It's really just about personal preference and changes with each issue I think.

[dougscats]

I have the same problem as I'm collecting the Monster.
I like displaying my cards in the 15-pocket page and being able to easily flip through my collection. Moreover, I'm a romantic; I love being able to touch the cards. So I prefer ungraded cards. But sometimes it's unavoidable getting graded cards.

Recently, I've started cracking open my 1's and Authentics as I don't think there's much difference in value in or out of the slab. It is a liberating feeling. However, I haven't cracked the Fairs and above. I think they are worth/cost more in the slab, especially very expensive cards.

What I do is photo-copy those graded cards, then cut out the photo-copies with a utility knife and put them in my pocket-pages [I've used photo-paper in the past, but I may try cardboard]. This works fairly well though it is time-consuming and a pain in the ass.

One other thing I do: Cut the side edge [say 1/8"] off a penny sleeve so that it fits comfortably in the pocket. [For T206's, I cut the sleeve in half.] More than protecting them, this makes it easy to move cards around without damaging them.

In all, I have about a dozen different collections organized in looseleafs this way, and as I say it makes them easy and accessible to view.

Doug