I recently found a great binder for my WOTC era cards and started filling the binder up. I love the way they all look in the binder and had a ton of fun putting it together. I purchased many mid grade 1st edition cards, cracked them from the case, and added them to the binder since many of them were excellent binder copy candidates.
That got me thinking about my shadowless base set cards. I bought them all from eBay a while ago. The majority of them are 6s with a few 7s and 8s. The exception is Charizard which was a very unfortunate 2. I got it raw and for a cheap price. It came in looking amazing with a terrific holo and no corner whitening or issues that I could see, but after grading I found it had a diagonal crease on the back that I couldnât spot without the correct lighting and angle. This got me thinking that itâs a perfect binder copy.
My problem is I want to keep the cards safe since the nostalgia factor is high, but I also like to display my cards together. Most of these copies look terrific and I have no idea why the grades are lower since most of them have only a minor scratch or tiny white area on the back.
What would you do if you were me? Crack them and add them to the binder or leave them be? I have the more valuable cards from jungle and fossil graded too. The incomplete look of the binder does bother me, but I canât justify buying another copy for the binder when I already own one. The cards being kept safe is also important.
What would you do? Is cracking vintage holos a bad idea?
Cracking 6/7/8 for binders is totally fine, they are in near mint condition and will look nice in a binder. I have been doing it for years as an alternative to buying raw vintage.
Nice thing is the front is what matters and you dont see the back in the binder, you could even find very clean fronts with low grade(3/4/5) due to the back. excellent binder copies
Thanks for your input. I donât have a good understanding of what is considered an investment grade card besides more obvious ones like 1st edition Charizard. Can you give me a brief overview? Iâm newer to the hobby. I appreciate it.
Oh itâs just an opinion really. I just meant stuff that I was holding primarily with the intent of selling in the future.
I had a majority that I was holding with the intent to make a Pokedex display with one of each species and some of the holos were slabbed. It looked funny with slabbed holos and raw non holos so they all got the crack
Cracking 5-8 for binders is pretty common. Some tend to go lower on the scale for more valuable cards. Its more comfortable cracking a psa 6 blastoise than psa 8. Ultimately its a personal choice, but cracking to raw is pretty common!
Oh I see that makes sense. I wasnât sure if it was more of a value based metric or simply the intention to sell at a later date for a gain. Some of the cards I purchased have gone up since I got them so I just wanted to be sure. Cracking slabs is something Iâve gotten more comfortable with, but cracking the original holos makes me a tad nervous since I wouldâve been ecstatic to have all of these as a kid. I think I only ever got to open two or three base set packs when I was little. They were so hard to get where I lived.
Iâm glad Iâm not the only one. Iâd leave the Charizard alone if it werenât such a low grade, but the price of mid grade shadowless copies seems to have doubled since the last time I was looking. Bad timing on my part I suppose.
Crack them and add them to the binder. Exhibiting them in a binder is the most beautiful way to enjoy them. And in the end, what are we? More investors or more collectors?
Thank you everyone for your advice so far. I appreciate it. Does cracking my cards hurt their value? Maybe it doesnât matter since I donât plan on selling them, but it is nice to know that my cards have some value.
A lot of the graded premium comes in the 10 (and some in the 9) grade range.
Many people will view the rest as raw and price them as so. However itâs not always a bad thing. You said youve got strong PSA 6s and even a good looking 2, I guarantee theyâd sell for more and probably faster raw. Some people see those numbers and call it a day, but I know as well as you do they can look super nice for a seemingly low number grade
Iâd crack the cards for the binder. If you want duplicates down the road but in nicer condition, you can always buy a graded copy later on. I think youâll find seeing the cards together in a cohesive manner to be much more satisfying.
In my opinion, the best value for your cracked card will be somewhere around PSA 6 - PSA 8, but I donât mind cracking PSA 9s if Iâm looking to complete a mint binder. At the end of the day, itâs really up to you and where your preferences fall.
