You seem to have mistaken that psa has different cases for different items. Most sports cards will use 1LR, while most tcg cards will use 21 case. There’s several others so just a heads up that it doesn’t have anything to do with old/new cases.
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I’d see it a bit differently. To me, it doesn’t really feel like a coincidence that PSA has been running into issues with the 1LR cases lately. For example, those cracks PSA calls “flow lines” only seem to show up on cases with that serial number/format. And in the video that was shared, it also looks like only cases from that same run are affected.
That being said, maybe it was just by chance that a few of the cases in the video showed that flaw. From what I’ve heard, the new cases are actually supposed to be much harder to crack open, mainly to stop people from resubmitting cards of opened cases to try their luck at a better grade.
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Let me explain this again: “21” is for TCGs, “25” for phone cards, "1T”, “1LR”, & “1LR+” for sports cards. There’s cases for everything: game tickets, postcards, packs.. Sometimes they use wrong the case.. They are not indicative of new vs old cases. With the volume that psa deals with, you are bound to run issues, whether its in assembly or from manufacturing.
Also, FYI, when the flow lines issue first came up, that was before the new version of the psa slabs came out.
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I use wire cutters and a small pry bar.
If you don’t have those, Home Depot or other home improvement stores has tool rental - mostly power tools, but if you went in asking if you can rent wire cutters and a small pry bar i bet you one of the guys would bring you to the employees’ section and just let you borrow some.
Especially if you were carrying a slab. Personally, i’d be like “well this will be interesting..” and would be pleased to let you borrow those tools.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot for the detailed breakdown once again. Based on what you’ve explained, it sounds like PSA is now using the slabs that were originally intended for sports cards for TCG cards as well, correct? After all, in your list, the slab with the “1LR” serial number is listed as being reserved for sports cards.
That said, the question remains why the issue of easily opened slabs – just like the “flow lines” – only appears on slabs with the 1LR serial number, and whether this is just a coincidence. After all, the ancient mew cards shown in the video linked above were all in 1LR slabs as well.
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I’m not sure if I can share this IG link on e4. If not, please mod/admin delete it.
I saw a guy use an easy, fast technique with a bottle opener to crack the PSA slab. The cert number in the video is 12XXXX, so I guess it’s the new slab.
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I always use a knife to open beer bottles, seems like I need to get a bottle opener now
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I’m sure many have said this but wear eye protection please. The fragments move fast and unpredictably
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First things first, use eye protection when cracking a case and consider cracking it inside a bag/towel to reduce fragments flying everywhere. With that said, I’ve seen people use bottle openers on the corners of the slabs to crack them open.
I did this for the first time last night and it was way easier than it should have been.
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If you haven’t cracked a Japanese ARS graded card, you’re in for a treat!
Basically once you crack the top, wiggle some sort of wedge down one of the sides and slowly / gently separate that side until it snaps open. Make sure your wedge isn’t facing the card so you don’t poke it
I found this older discussion and separated it out into it’s own thread given it’s current relevancy
For what we’ve seen, the fakes one had a different back (the “big 21”) that doesn’t match the cert range . Hard to tell if they were cracked or “obtained” before sealing the patchwerk.
Is there any timeline of slab change from PSA ? And which cert range cover a bigger “21” on back?
The larger 21 slabs started during mid 7 certs. However, with reholders, any older cert can be found with this iteration of slabs but since scanning was already implemented when the slabs came out, they should have scans too.
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The thing I’m wondering about is the rounded bumpers, highlighted by @RattlePokemon. I assumed the slabs would be authentic, cracked PSA slabs, since there is obvious frosting along the edges of each of the fakes.
Hypothetically, if I were to make faked slabs, I’d make sure they weren’t frosted so obviously. Unless I was forced to, because I wanted authentic plastic slabs. It’s a bit of an incongruency.
I was hoping anyone would share an image of these bumpers being actually used in a specific cert range, but nothing showed up so far?
reference:
