Honestly I like a little bit of both. I also went through years of fluctuating and figuring out what I want as my actually personal collection. What I’ve settled on is having important prized cards (like you said) in slabs - festas, worlds, stamp promos. Then in binders I have cards that might not be condition dependent, set stuff that’s just too much to have in slabs, cards I don’t want to pay an upcharge for, etc etc.
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I think binders are fun if that’s what you like to collect. Definitely has more nostalgia to it in my opinion. I think graded cards are good for a display like a frame or for keeping a card you love in a protective case. Also some just like graded cards and that’s fun too.
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I never manage to keep any of the graded cards I’ve had. I always like the look of them but my first 5 cards in my collection are my biggest highlights in my display and having a suped up graded card take away from that highlight always makes me want to just sell it and use the funds for other goals. I have 2 graded cards in my display but one was a gift and both of them are pushed far off to the wayside.
Maybe I just need a fancier case for my raw cards.
That being said, looking through binders of cards will always be more satisfying than looking through slabs for me. The fact that I can take my binders out and flip through pages, take cards out, shine in the light without worry, and then put them back in just does so much for me. Seeing cards next to each other is like looking through a fancy catalog - I love the showcase and seeing variety on a page.
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when i first found out about e4 i was considering grading some cards, however i never went through with it. all of my cards in my collection are binder/raw
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Binders for me all the way. I’ve thought about picking up exactly one graded set card, my favorite artwork in the entire TCG, the Dream League Piplup CHR to be a display piece. When I think about the cost of it though, I really am perfectly happy with my binder copy.
I much prefer flipping through my binders than sifting through slabs. I’m the same way with photographs- I have a scrapbook so I can flip through them, since if they’re just on my phone or pc I won’t touch them. There’s just something really satisfying about page after page of cards in a binder that slabs don’t hit for me.
I understand the prior sentiments in this thread- grading for posterity or for very rare cards, or even that you just like the look. I think both have a place in the hobby as a whole, but I prefer the organic collection of binders, since it brings me back to when I was but a small lass not caring about the monetary value of things.
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I’m not particularly nostalgic about binders, I used a binder as a kid because that’s all I knew. The cards I cared about that I couldn’t organize/fit in there went into flimsy single use containers and the cards I didn’t care about swam around in my commode.
Fast forward a few years and I get the toysite Ho-Oh 4-pocket binder. To me that was an improvement because there were fewer cards on the page.
Fast forward a few years after that and I didn’t really care about using that one anymore, came to the conclusion that I prefer stacks and heaps in hard, ungraded plastic that I can shuffle through at my pleasure and hold the mint raw card in my hand if I want to.
And that is my preference today, although I have toyed with the idea of doing binders with single card pages.
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I’m not sure why people seem to think slab collectors dump them in a box and never look at them. Some of the best displays are graded slab displays. You don’t have to take them out they’re always there to see.
Granted you can’t fit hundreds of cards in the same space but it’s not like all slabs are for pure storage
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a psyduck binder sounds elite! do you have any pics to share?
Personally, I prefer to collect slabs of some of my favorite cards and keep them in PWCC. but also have a mix of raw cards at home in a binder / case, especially sealed promos.
My collecting is very much about frameworks, i always want to have some kind of limit (was it small or big, all wotc cards, a binder page of certain artist etc) and binders make that possible so much better. Buying individual cards i like isn’t an option since i would lose my sense of control that way, too much cards i like that could be bought without any framework. I only have few individual cards as slabs for display purposes but i guess that also has a framework since i only have 6 slab stands to use and that limits the number of cards i van display that way, not going to buy any more stands 
also, my god displayes slabs take so much space compared to binders, but that’s the way i want to have slabs, i hate the idea of stored slabs in a closet/box or similar which was partially the reason i sold almost all my slabs. It’s either the binder for flipping pages or the slab constantly displayed
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Both serve a purpose. But really, graded lol.
- When looking at a binder, it’s hard to focus on a single card at a time. Your guys quickly move onto the next card. Much easier to appreciate a card when looking at a single slab.
- Accidental damage/humidity. I always had a small level of anxiety with raw binder cards. Especially if they were higher value. Slabs offer that physical protection where I’d be happy to hand them over to a friend to look at.
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i do think there is another value for grading and not only for cards as well. for example i collect and grade as you probably know the pokemon manga guides vhs as well as cards. the capsulating helps preserving the condition of that product overall. many cards and other merch get detoriation (spelling) over time. i grade but i do not do it for the value to sell after but for the preserving of the merch. even the corocoro pokemon related books that i collect which i cant grade because they are too big for cgc to grade, i keep very well in plastic zipper bags
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You can find archival storage solutions for paper items so the acid/pvc/etc in standard plastic bags doesn’t eat away at it. I use an artists portfolio for items like that.
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can you show me an example maybe ? i had success with plastic zipper bags so far and the corocoro books are quite big and thick
https://www.archivalmethods.com/product/itoya-art-profolio
There are so many variants of stuff just like this that can suit anything for long term storage. The primary concern is not having archival/acid free plastic on your papers currently because over time, they will destroy the paper.
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i see i know these but the corocoro book magazines are so thick it would never fit in those as they are thick and big like the tcg bible for example
that is why i currently store my pokemon guides books and magazine in these bags
some of these books been there for more than a year now and seem ok. just cant find something big enough. there are companies that make actually acrylic cases for this size but they are expensive as well as delivery and i got more than just a few pokemon related books and guides
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There are sleeves made for stuff like that which can go in a folio - though the bigger book items typically go into boxes. Just ask around and whatnot, it couldn’t hurt. You’re right that the past year isn’t going to do much, but looking over 5 years and various degrees of storage (temp, climate), then you suddenly notice the mold on the corner and what looks like sun fading but it’s just corrosion. I’m weird about long term storage for stuff though so I’m giving more extreme examples. I have cels at my parents that are kept in a folio and even though I haven’t seen them in years, I have no concerns over their protection.
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I struggled with this dilemma for months. I never wanted to be the “grade everything” guy but found myself with more slabs than I wanted and gaps in my binders. I ultimately decided to narrow my graded collection to specific subsets and keep everything else in my binders.
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I saw all those gold stars pop up 
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And they went so quickly!
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