Quick question for the slab collectors here, does anyone else intentionally grade cards that are in terrible condition to get a PSA 1?
I actually enjoy hunting for cards that are completely beat up. If the card is still authentic and PSA will slab it, I think there’s something nice about preserving it like that. For me it’s almost like collecting “survivors” rather than perfect copies that all look the same.
Curious how people here feel about it - or show me your slabs!
One of the most degenerate behaviors is intentionally damamging cards further that would still have been nice binder cards. Most people here will likely struggle to see why someone would pay more for a PSA 1 over a PSA 3 in clearly better condition
Yeah nah that’s not what I mean at all. People intentionally damaging cards just to force a PSA 1 are a completely different story. What I’m talking about are cards that are already in rough shape. Like, a lot of them come from my childhood collection and instead of just leaving them loose in a box or in a binder, I like the idea of putting them in a slab to preserve them!
Preserve a childhood binder as is. You grew up collecting them in a binder. Encapsulating them in plastic doesn’t preserve the memory, I think it would take away from the magic. Maybe grade your favorite card for display.
I couldn’t justify forking over $25 per card to have PSA slab them
and then selling them to someone who will pay a premium for a reason that Ive never understood. Damaging themselves and grading makes more sense but is still dumb. it only works as long as people pay a premium
I own a 1st Shadowless Base Set Charizard in a PSA 1 (4 Cert), which I bought some years ago. Although, I’d probably prefer if it were just graded “Authentic”.
No idea if it was intentionally damaged - it just looks well loved. It has character and charm, which my 9 doesn’t. It’s the card I look at most. Should I sell my collection in the future, its probably the only card I’d keep.
I’m glad you’re not a fan of intentionally damaging the cards 
- like most ppl here, I’m not a fan of that…
I don’t understand PSA 1 collecting myself haha… but we all prob have our own weird collecting preferences not everyone gets. I think the whole value premium for PSA 1s has unfortunately distorted things, so you’re getting some negative comments. If you like them good for you, and if you like slabs of childhood cards there are also plenty of ppl here who think that’s perfectly fine too.
(I do really wish AUTHENTIC grades were more normalized / common though - that would help stop the whole intentional damage game imo. PSA Auth collectors seems better than PSA 1 collectors to me heh)
For the record, there’s nothing wrong with encapsulating cards in a slab to preserve them. I did that with the first ever Charizard that I pulled and I’m so happy that I did. Because to me I thought it was a good way to protect it. It also allows me to show my children without freaking out whether or not they’re going to bend it or throw it around or not.
Binder isn’t gospel, and you can do what you want. And I think it’s cool to slab “survivors” like you said. Because then you’d have a collection of survivors and that’s really cool to me.
So slab away babyyyyy 
I’d never sell my childhood cards. For context, most of my collection is German cards, and the whole PSA 1 hype basically doesn’t exist here. A PSA 1 is usually just worth whatever the lowest damaged listing sells for.
Maybe it’s also a bit of a counter movement for me against the whole obsession with 10s, highest value, population reports, and all that. I don’t need an expensive Umbreon VMAX in a PSA 10 that looks exactly like the other thousand copies with the same grade. I’m perfectly happy with my old non-holo Jolteon (my favorite Pokemon) sitting in a PSA 1. It’s from my childhood and I’ve known every crease and scratch on that card for years. Sure, I could just keep it in a binder like everyone else. But seeing that “1” on the slab is honestly pretty cool. It’s only a 1, but it’s my 1.
I do understand that this kind of collecting probably isn’t for everyone and I get why some people don’t like the idea. But I honestly didn’t expect it to be THIS controversial.
Weirdos
The best thing about a heavily damaged card is that you can take it out of the sleeve, give it a kiss and put it back in your binder.
Gradng takes this away from us all
Bro..
I’m happy for you because collecting non-english cards without worrying about condition seems like a chill life. Keep on rocking in the free world
Many years ago I picked up many loved Venusaur Base Set cards. With the idea to assemble a PSA1-10 set. But I figured out really soon that getting those PSA1-5 would be quiet the challenge and absolutely not worth the cost (buying multiple copies, submitting etc.) and these days, with the cost of grading being even way higher those loved cards are still in my spares box.
But damaging a card on purpose, like doing a wash cycle, for the novelty. You’re as bad as people buying PSA8s to clean them up and resubmit them.
My unpopular opinion of the day is that if your card is worse than a PSA 5, you shouldn’t slab it. Exceptions exist, like extremely rare or expensive cards that have value in any grade, or cards that you are sentimental to that you wish to preserve (e.g., childhood cards).
No, cos I’m not dumb
I have never understood it. I chalk it up to different strokes for different folks.
I feel like a sleeve + binder is already a good way to preserve them, though. 
Most HP cards from my youth are that way because I didn’t had individual sleeves. That simply wasn’t a thing yet at the time, back in 2000. 
But an individual sleeve + binder, without rearranging things too often (which I did hundreds of times as a kid 
) is already a great way of preserving them.
Also, with the new PSA prices of 20-25 USD per grade, think of all the other HP cards you could buy with those multiple 20-25 USD. There are also a lot of cheap cases these days to encapsulate cards yourself, without using an actual grading company. If you like to preserve your heavy-loved cards in slabs, I feel that’s likely a better (and much cheaper) route to go. Just my 2c, though.
Having said that, I do understand grading a couple childhood cards for nostalgia sake. I’ve graded the Moltres promo I received at cinemas as a kid as well, mostly just for fun when grading was still just ~10 bucks, which came back a PSA-4.
Grading dozens of cards for 20-25 USD each you know are gonna be < PSA-5s kinda sounds like a waste of money, though. But it’s still your own money to spend, so if that’s your decision, by all means go for it. I’m not stopping you. As long as you think it over carefully and don’t regret it later on.
Greetz,
Quuador