December 24, 2025, 7:40pm 1

Since it’s my Christmas break, I’m in the process of re-organizing my Pikachu collection (among other things). More on that later, though.

But whilst taking everything out of my binders and re-organizing things while referencing my checklist, I noticed I have a lot more gaps in my regular binder due to sealed cards (which are in my top-loader binder) for modern cards, compared to older ones. Since sealed promos are overall worth a lot more than raw ones, I’ve made it an habit of keeping a card sealed when it arrives as such these past few years, even though I’ve almost always opened them for my binders in the past.

I’m still trying to think of something for those gaps in my binder for all my graded/sealed cards (I’ll probably scan and print those scans for my binder at one point). But at the same time I’m actually debating about perhaps buying extra copies of those sealed cards for my binders, or perhaps just selling the sealed ones and buying raw ones. And likewise with a bunch of my graded cards.

How do you deal with sealed/graded cards that are technically part of your binder collection goals? Do you just open/crack them, since you don’t have any intention of selling them anyway? Would you do that as well if the only (or cheapest) copy you were able to find was a PSA-10 or 9 graded copy (this has happened more than once for me in the past - although I doubt it’d happen often in this market tbf). Or if it’s a sealed promo that’s worth a couple thousands USD in the current market?

Greetz, Quuador

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eievui December 24, 2025, 8:07pm 2

Im exclusively a binder collector, and everything for me gets opened, and stored in the same sleeves/toploaders since theres only 1 copy of it. I have to have consistency with the ENTIRE binder, or my OCD hits me like a truck.

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If it’s a card somewhat affordable, I would love to own two copies: one graded and one (maybe even in poor condition) for the binder. This is because I tend to view slabs and binders as separate sides of the hobby.

Flipping through my binders brings me a fairly different kind of enjoyment, which is difficult to replicate If I have to put asterisks everywhere, because one is a sealed promo tucked in box, another card is in permanent display on my shelf, and a couple in the vault. Same for a graded collection: holding a single, clean card in your hand is indeed satisfying and serves a different purpose.

However, I’m always willing to compromise. Things have gotten expensive as hell, and owning 2 copies of the same rare pikachu promo is a luxury for few. I think it’s completely reasonable to collect a slabbed/sealed copy, print yourself a proxy, and call it a day.

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eeveeteam December 24, 2025, 8:43pm 4

I have a hard time keeping cards sealed, much prefer them in my binder. I opened the PLAY Japanese gold stars sealed, looking back opening up the Flareon probably costs a lot of money. Also opened up the Ponchos. The way I see it, they are in my binder forever, so why not open them? If kept pristine, they would still grade high for someone who inherits them 60 years from now.

Anyways, its an interesting problem to try to navigate. Like if you got a snap Pikachu that was already authenticated, there is no way you could crack that.

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Dyl December 24, 2025, 9:02pm 5

If I can afford it, I would buy a second copy for the binder. Condition would matter less on that one if I already own a sealed/graded copy. It would also be much lower on my priority list (buy the ‘must haves’ first, then the ‘should haves’ second, and the ‘could haves’ last).

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Take a Polaroid picture of your owned cards that don’t fit, and put the pictures in the binder! Sounds silly, but seeing a picture of your actual card, whether it’s graded or sealed, at least makes it feel more personal than a printed proxy to me! Maybe that’s doing too much, but hey!

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I am a binder collector, so everything gets cracked or ripped that being said I used to use screw downs that are the same size as PSA slabs and kept them in a slab binder but it was wayyyyy to bulky.

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Quuador December 24, 2025, 10:14pm 8

Yeah, that’s what I meant with:

A photo instead of scan is of course possible as well. But I indeed intend to make it clear in the printout what the grading company/grade is, or whether it’s sealed or not. I’m not gonna print or buy proxies of cards I already own.

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Yep..

You’re brave for opening a sealed PLAY promo for your binder. That would indeed be a value drop, even if the raw card is still NM+.

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FWIW, I must admit I’m partially used to the separated graded/sealed cards at this point, since it started back in 2017 or so after I bought three PSA-9 Pikachu cards I couldn’t find raw at the time (Korean unlimited; Korean 1st; and T. Chinese 1st edition Base Set Pikachu), which I didn’t want to crack. Back then it did trigger my OCD for a while, but after some time I just accepted it. It’s just that these days I even keep the seemingly cheap cards sealed, since in 5+ years time, those won’t be cheap anymore and worth a lot more sealed than raw.

True. This is also kinda what triggered me to ask in the first place tbh. At the same time, I think it would be smarter to buy a raw copy (or PSA 6/7 to crack) and then sell the sealed (or PSA-9/10) copy. Although then I’ll still have the problem of those few cards you simply can’t find (raw). There’s a reason why some of the cards I have in my collection were graded or sealed in the first place: they were simply the first copy to pop up for sale after looking for them for years. And then there are also those few cards that are pretty pricey. And since I’m currently a bit low on money, buying a raw copy first in order to then sell the graded/sealed copy might not be very straight-forward rn. (And I’m defintely not gonna sell first, and then buy the raw replacement. If something goes wrong with either the sale or bought replacement, I’m missing a card in my collection.)

Thanks for all the responses so far btw. I wasn’t really planning on doing anything about it in my collection in the near future (although maybe one day perhaps). I was mostly curious how you all deal with it.

Greetz, Quuador

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They actually make slab binders that are pretty great! I am gonna be engraving some hopefully soon. I really like the vibe of them, and its gonna make my slabs much more fun and accessible

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citriina December 24, 2025, 10:27pm 10

I always open sealed and crack graded. I’ve cracked two tropical winds so far for the binder, along with a handful of other bigger ticket cards, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

I like everything all organized in my binder, and since I have no intention of selling anyway, why not enjoy my cards how I like them best?

It’s really easy to get sucked into the “but it’ll be worth so much more if you keep it sealed/slabbed!” talk, as I’m sure you’ve heard time and time again, but if you’re not selling it at some point down the line, then what does it matter how much it “could be worth”? Of course, if you’d rather keep them sealed/slabbed, then there’s nothing wrong with that either, but there’s a difference between assessing how much enjoyment you get out of how cards are stored vs how much that monetary value difference matters to you.

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xara December 24, 2025, 11:02pm 11

Some cards of my binder collection exist only as graded slabs, because economically it was the best balance of availability, value, and risk when purchasing. For others I use a lower-condition binder copy. But for a few, buying an extra raw copy is just too expensive, so I leave the slot empty and keep the slabs beside me while browsing the binder. Not perfect, but the best compromise for my budget and my need for order.

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Essoman December 24, 2025, 11:51pm 12

I’m a binder person, exclusively. I have cracked a slab or maybe two in my short time, and have no qualms about it at all. They were both PSA 9’s and as I collect/ gather in a definitive and narrow arena it is goal ended and achievable. Couldn’t afford to keep doing that though; if I was trying to complete series after series like some forum members.

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Quuador December 24, 2025, 11:56pm 13

I have a slab binder as well, although with just regular 4x4 photo binder pages, not those especially made for graded cards. Mostly because I have cards from all different kind of grading companies, with all different dimensions.

But my question was mostly how you feel about having a binder collection, but then with one spot in the middle for the card you have in your separated graded binder.

Greetz, Quuador

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Oop, totally misread that!

For me, its just not quite the same Every time I take a card from my binders to grade, I put a little placeholder in, but I always end up just rebuying a raw copy.

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