What is the cleanest you have ever cracked a slab???

Allen

The Mantle auction post got me thinking, what is the cleanest break you have got with a PSA (or other) slab? I know I have had some that broke very clean where as some are difficult and are all but destroyed. I don't know that I have ever had one pop apart like the fradulent PSA 5 Mantle seller described. So what is everyones experience?.......HOW CLEAN IS YOUR CRACK? lol

calleocho

i have broken PSA and SGC slabs and both break apart fairly clean, maybe PSA a tad more, but i have heard that since wigwag they have turned up the sonic sealer and new cards show a lot more snow compared to old slabs. But thats just what i have heard i could be wrong.

Now BGS is a monster of a slab, i had two from them and it took me a good 15 minutes and i completely destroyed one of the cards!

goudeygold

SGC and GAI are tough to open without completely destroying the case. I have opened many PSA slabs and half the time I can do it with a screwdriver then just twisting it around keeping the case intact, but a little cloudy on enough areas that it would be an obvious reseal.

GG

Knuckles

I've only cracked about 8 cards out ever. 3 PSA's and 5 SGC's. The PSA's came apart pretty easy but there was damage to the edges of the slab when doing so. One SGC came out super easy I hardly had to jimmy it at all with a butter knife. A scammer I'm sure would love to get their hands on it as there's no way in telling that a card had been removed from it. The other 4 SGC holders however were destroyed and had me sweating trying not to damage the card inside when using a lot of force with knives and flat tipped screw drivers.

What do you guys do with your old cracked slabs? I just throw them out.. I thought about sticking other cards in them for display purposes with no flip but it's just not the same.

cardfan07

I cut mine open so there isn't much "clean" left! The slab is usually cut right where the flip is.
I have opened BVG and SGC slabs both. Seems like the BVG cracked pretty easily with only minor damage.
I just throw mine in the trash-they're pretty much worthless after i'm done with them.

Brian48

I've never been able to crack any slab (from any grading service) without damaging it to the point where it's really apparent. I would say that the toughest slab I've ever had to crack open are those used used by BCCG, which is different than those used by BGS/BVG.

MajorDanby

hard to crack an SGC slab cleanly. I opened up 3 of them recently with a small screw driver. I started at the top and then the sides. One of the three actually looks decent, but there's no way i can put it back together. The other two are decimated.

LilyVictoria

@Allen said:
The Mantle auction post got me thinking, what is the cleanest break you have got with a PSA (or other) slab? I know I have had some that broke very clean where as some are difficult and are all but destroyed. I don't know that I have ever had one pop apart like the fradulent PSA 5 Mantle seller described. So what is everyones experience?.......HOW CLEAN IS YOUR CRACK? lol

As for the "clean break" you mentioned, it likely depends on the specific circumstances, including the condition of the slab and the tools used.

handyman

I’ve had 2 different cases come to me completely unsealed. A tall boy and a regular case. Still have them. They came open lifting them from the stacks. All straight from psa btw. I use them every now and then to see the size of a card in the PSA case closed sometimes.

ReggieCleveland

I've now opened two SGC slabs with my thumb nail and each popped apart in perfect condition. In fact, I could lay the front half of the slab down on my scanner and put the card in where it belongs and you would never know the slab was opened. You can also pop the back of the slab back in so that it's sturdy to a degree.

I'm actually shocked we haven't seen a huge scandal of people getting ripped off with popped SGC slabs. I mean, who really tests the strength of each slab they get in the mail? I don't think it would withstand being dropped on the ground but some light handling while it's scanned and stored? No problem.

At least with PSA and BGS you have to snip a corner first.

Arthur

Darin

I ruined a 1975 topps Al Kaline highlights card cracking it open because I wanted it for my raw set. I was pretty mad at myself because it was a really nice 7 and I managed to put a heck of a crease in it.

PaulMaul

@Darin said:
I ruined a 1975 topps Al Kaline highlights card cracking it open because I wanted it for my raw set. I was pretty mad at myself because it was a really nice 7 and I managed to put a heck of a crease in it.

Strange coincidence….I damaged a 1974 Kaline cracking it out of an SGC case years ago!

Cakes

@PaulMaul said:

@Darin said:
I ruined a 1975 topps Al Kaline highlights card cracking it open because I wanted it for my raw set. I was pretty mad at myself because it was a really nice 7 and I managed to put a heck of a crease in it.

Strange coincidence….I damaged a 1974 Kaline cracking it out of an SGC case years ago!

Agreed. If you have never cracked a card out from it's case you should make your cheapest card your first attempt. I damaged a Jerry Rice rookie roughly 10 years ago in my attempt to get a PSA 9 Rice rookie. I cracked and submitted nice cards raw that came back PSA 7. In fact my best grade was a PSA 8 Steve Young. 86 Topps Football can G2H.

PaulMaul

@Cakes said:

@PaulMaul said:

@Darin said:
I ruined a 1975 topps Al Kaline highlights card cracking it open because I wanted it for my raw set. I was pretty mad at myself because it was a really nice 7 and I managed to put a heck of a crease in it.

Strange coincidence….I damaged a 1974 Kaline cracking it out of an SGC case years ago!

Agreed. If you have never cracked a card out from it's case you should make your cheapest card your first attempt. I damaged a Jerry Rice rookie roughly 10 years ago in my attempt to get a PSA 9 Rice rookie. I cracked and submitted nice cards raw that came back PSA 7. In fact my best grade was a PSA 8 Steve Young. 86 Topps Football can G2H.

I had plenty of experience cracking out PSAs but had never done it with an SGC case before. Somehow the tool I was using just slipped through into the case and scratched the card. I was kicking myself for a week.