How sensitive are holo cards to actual damage?
Outside of WOTC era cards, for example rainbow rares that have their holo pattern all over the card or just regular GX’s, do you have to be extra careful with these? Is it okay to ever put them down on a flat surface without a sleeve? Should you minimize the touch at all even when it’s in a sleeve or are you basically safe once it’s sleeved as long as you handle it gently?
I don’t generally use any toploaders because I like to keep binder collections, but sometimes I take my cards out to just look at them in their sleeve and I’m a little anxious that I might end up causing micro damage
No matter what booster packs I’m opening I was open over a clean play mat. The only issue I can see with using a binder is that the color back ultra pro sleeves are be a little tight compare to a penny sleeve and certain binders can leave slight imprints on the cards. (Most ringless binders don’t have this problem. I your number one concern is condition then I recommend a penny sleeve inside a card saver and you can even opt for a sticky tab on the top so you don’t have to fish you finger in to remove the card. It all comes down to preference. For me I would keep all modern product in a binder for display and access and grade all vintage product. There are many different ways to store and protect your cards. You just need to find what you like the best!
Regardless of the card, my general routine goes like this:
Prepare a clean and dry surface.
Wash hands and allow to dry.
Have Perfect Fit Sleeves and Ultra Pro Sleeves at side
Open pack (or generally handle card)
Place rare inside Perfect Fit Sleeve
Place inside Ultra Pro Sleeve
Place in binder.
When it comes to taking the cards out, I just take them out of the binder carefully by making sure I’m using minimum force (Usually the friction of my finger on the sleeve is enough to pull it out). Sometimes, after transfers and reorganizing, I have to replace the sleeves, which are easy to do as I only have to replace the Ultra Pro Sleeve since the Perfect Fit Sleeves go untouched.
I sleeve my cards with the Perfect Fit Sleeve upside down (so bottom of the sleeve is the open side) and then place it in the Ultra Pro Sleeve regularly. This minimizes the likelihood of dust falling onto the card. It’s not foolproof of course, but I have yet to damage a card by handling it in the last 10 years.
The perfect fits don’t scratch the cards when you’re trying to put them on? I have never used them but this always seemed likely to me given how tightly the sleeves hug the cards.
I recently had to handle the most expensive ungraded card I have come across to send it for grading. It was sealed in a case and I had to unscrew it.
I get ready penny sleeves and some card savers (even for just one card),
I washed my hands prior to the entire process,
I unscrew the case with a screw driver and use my fingers when the screws are lose enough,
I washed my hands again because the screws were dusty,
picked the card by the edges and slide it in to a sleeve,
inspect for dirt and dust while the card is 1/4 into the sleeve,
placed pull tabs on the sleeve and insert into card savers and off to PSA it goes
In all honesty, you just have to have a ‘just do it’ attitude when dealing with uncomfortable situations including handling expensive cards. Just think that it’s a good thing that you get to handle an expensive card
Nope, not unless they had some bad edge wear that was at risk of peeling. Putting them in upside down also allows me to apply gentle pressure when I sleeve them upwards with my thumbs at the bottom while gently holding the sides of the sleeve between my pointer and middle fingers. It’s become such a common practice now that they seem to go in effortlessly. I’ve also never heard of a case of scratching it with perfect fit sleeves.
By Ultra Pro sleeve do you mean double sleeving with one of their deck sleeves or double sleeving a perfect fit into a penny sleeve? I also use KMC perfect fits for everything
Do you double sleeve everything? Or just the holos?
Rainbow rares and all these new cards are way easier to handle and grade than say a wotc card with a silver holo. Just be gentle and use common sense and I don’t see how you’d mess up handling these textured cards.
Yeah it’s just that I only have one individual card pretty much that is over 40 usd in price. I don’t really know how fragile cards are. I’ve never damaged any but I just wondered if anyone used gloves or tries to minimize the handling to only when absolutely necessary.
Wash your hands thoroughly and use your thumb and index to control the card from the center, not from the edges. If your hands are clean and dry (free of oils and sweat) then no harm will come to the card whatever way you touch it. If you’re having trouble picking up a card from a flat surface you can use a sleeve corner (curved into a U shape between your fingers) to lift up the card.
I could get into a lot of detail about sleeves, but some footnotes: I don’t push the card down the final way to the sleeve bottom, I just lightly tap the card in its sleeve on my desk so that the card seats itself the rest of the way in. I don’t use perfect fits… at least with WOTC cards - too tight and no added benefit. Ultra pro premiums are the best high quality sleeve. If you’re scared to handle and would like more protection for handling, double sleeve with Ultra pro clear deck protectors
Don’t be afraid to handle and enjoy them -they’re meant to be handled
So in short, I double sleeve by using the KMC Perfect Fit Sleeve first and THEN Ultra Pro Deck Protector Sleeve.
I double sleeve everything but my collection is a bit niche - I collect only Gyarados so that includes non-holo and holos. I recommend double sleeving though for ultimate protection. Makes handling the cards easier overall and allows for them to be a bit sturdier, avoid issues with moisture and folding, and overall just looks really professional and uniform.
I tend to be super delicate with all cards - treating any card as if it was a 1st edition Charizard. This forces consistency and care across the board when handling.
Do you ever take your cards out at all?
I have taken some of my cards out a few times to just look at them from different angles without a sleeve on.
I always feel very paranoid while doing it that it’s bad and I’ll do something wrong at some point but so far nothing has been damaged.
I’ve also taken cards out of their sleeve sometimes to check on if they didn’t somehow magically get scratches or warped or something while in a sleeve and binder…
I usually grease and change the oil on my car, first.
If I see some dirt, I have a belt sander loaded with 36 grit sandpaper ready to clean it.
When done I use lots and lots of tape.
I do on the rare occasion when I check to see if I need to replace some of my lesser quality cards for my binder collection. I usually can push the cards out of the perfect fit sleeve from the top. As long as you take them out carefully with confidence (trust yourself that you won’t damage the card but stay mindful to the action), then you’ll be fine. I was really nervous when I started taking collecting seriously and would shake whenever I would sleeve my cards or take them out. I damaged some Yugioh cards that way.
If you need to, I recommend practicing sleeving and unsleeving cards you don’t care about and do that routinely. Maybe do it a couple of times before you handle a rare card or a card you care about.
And @cross, I used to bind rares and non-rares alike in huge stacks with rubber bands. Oh to be a mindless youth again.
