So I found out the issue of what was causing discoloration in my slabbed cards. Placing slabs too tightly on sleeved cards causes micro-folds to appear and bend the light, making it appear as if your cards have water damage. Slightly untighten until the creases unfold. I used Perfect Fit Sleeves for this project. Glad there’s no actual damage.
So upon taking some quick pictures of my current collection for my thread, I noticed something awful about my original 5 cards that started my collection.
These cards weren’t in the best of condition due to me being a kid and not knowing how to take care of them properly, but after I got my Shining Gyarados card, I cared for everything.
Two years ago I placed my Original 5 Cards in Perfect Fit sleeves and inserted into a UV-Protected Acryllic screw in case to immortalize them in a fancy display.
I had the slabs stacked on top of each other for storage as I don’t really have a place to put them currently in my room. I moved two years ago and they have been like that since.
However, when I pulled them out to take pictures, I notice some major discoloration on the edges towards the bottom:
I couldn’t get a picture of when the light is refracted, but it almost look like where it was discolored, there was a type of residue on the card. When I repackaged these cards for the slabs, they had remained virtually unchanged when I sleeved them as a kid 20 years ago and the discoloration wasn’t there when I put them into the slabs.
What’s interesting is that all of my cards have these, but my newest one (the Shining Gyarados) has the most damage whereas my Base Set Gyarados (my oldest) has the least discoloration.
Has anyone had this issue? Is there a way I can counter-act the discoloration? Will this get worse if I keep them in the case?
The only thought I had was that maybe there was some oil residue on the edges and when secured, the oil was diffused through the material due to the pressure. I made sure only to go as tight as would hold the card in place.
@japanime I may have to just suffer my losses then. I imagine there’s no restoration process you’re aware of to fix it?
@jj1 I didn’t use any cleaner outside soap and water for the slabs. I let them air dry for 24 hours and wiped them down with a cloth before inserting the cards. Something to note too is that they have a sleeve on them too. Humidity shouldn’t have been a factor as I kept them stored in a place with absorbtion packets and out of the light.
It doesn’t look like UV damage and because of the rough borders between the discoloration and non-discoloration it looks like some kind of liquid seeped at the bottom. Did your sleeves have moisture on the bottom or anything like that? Does the card look like it has water damage or does the bottom surface look as smooth and uniform as the rest of the card?
Okay, so good news everyone. The discoloration seems to have been caused by how tight I placed the slabs. Somehow the material of the sleeves pushed against the card made tiny little creases. This would explain why the discoloration seemed to focus only on the corners and edges of the card. As soon as I loosened them, they unfolded and there was no color loss actually on the card.
