When do you guys crack a card out of it's holder?

Just something I was thinking about the other day, I find myself doing it more and more but it's never because I'm wanting to send a card back in for regrading or because I'm unhappy with a card's grade. I've been cracking cards out of holders just because I like displaying cards in a binder and enjoying them in a nice plastic sheet with 9 sleeves is a lot easier to do than trying to enjoy them when they're in a clunky plastic slab. Saves on a lot of storage space too!

I realize this isn't a good practice for investment purposes, naturally. Just curious if others cracked cards out of their slabs for this reason, or other uncommon reasons...

For that reason.

Ironically, cracking out cards actually helps the grading card companies and thus card grading in general as those cards can now eventually find their way back into slabs and the graders can once again charge for their services.

As a fan of grading, I say crack on my friend, crack on.

All that cracking and re-grading can't be good for pop reports though! Wish there was a way for those could be more accurate...at least in the case of a crossover....

Just a quick note that SGC will remove any cards from the pop reports when we receive a cracked out flip. I know some collectors like to keep the flips as a point of reference for their cracked out cards, but if you plan to throw them out, you can always drop them in an envelope and send them our way.

Brian Dwyer
SGC

The only time I have ever cracked out cards were for regrades that I did not want the possiblity of the previous grade influencing the new grade.

That is good to know that SGC is keeping up the registry, now if we knew PSA was doing the same we would definately have a more accurate data.

Brian, Does SGC do anything with the crossovers, so you know if PSA gets SGC crossovers? or was that what you were implying asking for the tags?

Lee

POP Reports are accurate.
They stand for POPularity tho, not POPulation.

Pop reports are not perfectly accurate. I think we all know why they aren't (cracked holders, crossovers, regrades, raw cards never submitted, etc. etc). But if you do not know how to use the pop reports and get information out of them...even though they are not perfectly accurate ... then you are missing out on an important piece of information that could come into play when you are buying or selling.

bowlingshoeguy wrote:The only time I have ever cracked out cards were for regrades that I did not want the possiblity of the previous grade influencing the new grade.

That is good to know that SGC is keeping up the registry, now if we knew PSA was doing the same we would definately have a more accurate data.

Brian, Does SGC do anything with the crossovers, so you know if PSA gets SGC crossovers? or was that what you were implying asking for the tags?

Lee

We do not receive any SGC tags from PSA, and we do not return PSA tags to PSA when we crack out a card. We will return the PSA tags to the customer if they request it.

Brian

Thanks Brian, that is kind of what I expected.

Lee

I used to be a chronic slab cracker, but have cooled off as of late. I've been collecting a few e sets raw (E96, E92 Dockman), and would crack out anything that came to me in a holder. I'm like you Brian, I prefer the look of my cards "in the nude". But in some cases with higher value cards, I'll leave them in the holder for protection/liquidity sake (if I feel the grade is accurate).

Here is something funny...or not:

I've only sent in one flip some time ago, anonymously, with a simple note asking them to remove it from the pop report. It took about a few months but it was finally adjusted. I constantly checked, waiting to see if it would be done...because it was a flip that I made! Again, just did it once to test the system and try to help with security issues.

Out of curiosity, Kevin. Which set was it from. I presume that it had to be rare enough that a single pop report change would be noticable. You do not need to share which card or company or grade if you don't wish, but would you mind sharing what set it is? I am curious to know as well if it was a notable card or simply a common.

Um, I would rather not say. Not to be secretive, I just don't want anymore collectors or grading companies angry at me. My latest hit....banned from bidding at Mastro.

Some of the thought process that went into doing this was not as easy as I thought it would be:

It had to be a card with a low pop...but not too low. Too common might be ignored and would not be instantly known if removed. Too low and valuable and it might be overly scrutinized.

I wanted the card to be have some value at a low grade and from a recognizable prewar set with limited grading activity.

It could not have a negative impact on the hobby or any collector.

It had to be reversible should someone prove they owned it later...(i.e. adding it to the set registry). Not something they would just pass off as an acceptable error without a challenge...which they have been known to do.

The end result was a forged flip that could not even be recognized by the company that makes them.