Can acetate cards turn yellow over time?
MarshallFaulk28
Posts: 383 ✭✭✭
I came across this card in a PSA slab which appears to have turned horribly yellow:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/184966146902?hash=item2b10d76b56:g:5BMAAOSwuplg~4AP
Assuming there was no tampering, the card WAS a PSA 9 at one point. Can this happen to a card that is slabbed? I've seen this happen to plastic clamshell packaging before, but curious what happened here and if it can happen to any acetate card.
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yes. heat and time. be careful. nefarious sellers will attempt to call it a “gold” version.
Yikes, that sucks. Besides watching out for nefarious sellers, you really need to be careful with these types of cards I guess. I’d be kind of paranoid if I owned a really high end card.
I have a perfectly clear Dunk N Go Nuts card that spent years stored away from light and heat. if these cards are displayed in any way exposed to UV light long term, they will turn yellow slowly. I believe the process is called thermal or UV degradation.
myslabs.to/smzcards
Also If UV coating fails as a cheaper brand may, the first color to fade is yellow.
No sun light is rule # 1. Rule # 2 See rule # 1.
I live in the hot south. Always put my stuff in a dark, cold closet.
If you do an Ebay search you can clearly see the difference between the cards that are well, clear!
As opposed to the yucky looking yellowing ones 
Is this why it's important to not smoke anywhere near your card collection?
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What is an acetate card. Acetate too me is a chemical used in the printing process.
Could it be the plastic sheets ? (stock)
Google tells me: Acetate Paper is a transparent material that is made by reacting cellulose with acetic acid in the presence of sulfuric acid.
heres my soto. front and back. some call them acetate. others call them clears. basically a card printed on clear transparent acetate.
I have a bunch of the 90s cards that have yellowed. Classic, Ultra, Leaf, etc. Unless they were displayed before I got them, I have always kept my cards in boxes. Sometimes it can look OK, but essentially the card is altered from original, even if there was no way to stop it. At least it isn't the disappearing ink that UD screwed us with!
Regular (non-acetate) cards can have their white borders turn off-color if left out for display. I've always stored my graded cards in darkness, but I know a few collectors who have lived to regret displaying some of their most prized graded cards in glass-enclosed cases or on book shelves. After a few years, what were once snow white borders can turn off-white/brownish. Someone I know became very upset after noticing that several very valuable, high-grade 1952 Topps baseball cards, including several HOFers, had their white borders get darkened after being out for display a few years.
@blurryface
Thanks for that reply.
When printing on that stock, which is actually 2 sheets (1plastic, 1 offset, glued as one) as the press is running to inspect quality, !@#$%^&............is a dance between the pressman and the stock. The reason why is the press is running ...fast...the pressman grabs a sample from an area you were always told to keep you hands out, by your parents.
Your hair flowing with the speed of the sheets floating, gently down 6 inches away from , lets call it a iron railing for steps, moving...fast...powder is clouding ..etc...professionals only.
Pressman must separate and flip in a blink, using the offset sheet as a back round, like a movie screen to view for quality.
Then we all go out to lunch.
3 man press no if ands or butts.
Here's a little FYI .
my still non-yellowed example
myslabs.to/smzcards
Beautiful looking card. Have these Dunk 'n Go Nuts cards always been really rare and expensive? I would love to get Jordan one some day, but now I'm kind of hesitant because you don't really know how the previous owners stored them. It sounds like if they were exposed to UV light in the past, they could still turn yellow in the future.
yes, it doesnt take long for them to yellow once it starts.i had a 9 for the longest time. never displayed it at all. sat in a bcw supervault box on a shelf for years. last time i pulled it out, the clouding and eventual yellowing seemed eminent. i reluctantly sold it off. did well, but hated seeing it go bc it is indeed an iconic set. guessing it was prolly displayed or exposed too much prior to purchasing. and maybe once the uv exposure had done what it needed to, time did the rest, i guess.
likely cellulose acetate, diacetate or triacetate (most likely) which is used in the film industry and can be made into plastic sheets that are glossy and support lamination and being die cut.
myslabs.to/smzcards