1989 Pro Set Football Forum

What is the deal with PSA slabbing Pro Set cards and charging $9.99 or more and calling them rare on eBay? I seem to remember that Pro Set (and Fleer, and Topps, etc) printed about a GAZILLION cards in the 90s...so slabbing them and calling them rare must be the thing! Just irks me how some people do that and think it makes the card valuable. of course, what it's worth is only what you're willing to pay!

I guess any way to make a buck.  Anyways I have never been a fan of slabbed cards.  Recently at my local shop a young collector in his early 20s was talking to the shop owner about sending out some cards to get graded and slabbed.  He asked my opinion as a fellow collector and I told him any card that is slabbed I am not interested in thank you.  Slabbed cards mean nothing to me.

Newbie question.  What is slabbing?

'Slabbing' is a generic term for sending cards to a grading company (PSA, etc) to get graded and then encapsulated in a plastic holder, to preserve their value. It's best used for older, more expensive and/or rare cards. That's why I can't understand p[eople who slab cards that were printed in the millions and labeling them as 'rare' on eBay! As you said, anything to make a buck!

wow! no interest in slabbed..  hmm..  i can understand the frustration of all the "fluffery" going on in the auctions..  i read them daily..  but a slabbed card is protected..  i wish i found a company that would not grade, just encase with my name (not theirs) and year/manu/name of player (cheap!)..  that would be so great!  anyway..  collect how you like and have fun!

can completely understand that. I always try to buy that serial #1 of xx in that series, and it sucks when it has already been graded. Not as bad though as having a newer base card with no serial # sent out for grading- doesn't make sense.

Me personally, i think even if I did own an older card like a Ruth i prob still wouldn't have it graded. takes away from the tradition. An appraiser is going to put a price on the card regardless if you're selling or buying. Plus it takes away from that "cool" affect.

Its not the fact that older or more expensive/valuable/less common cards are being slabbed...thats understandable! But slabbing PRO SET FOOTBALL CARDS and calling the RARE?!?! C'mon, thats really silly!

lmao!  yeah..  but I am a pro set collector..  most all of them are not rare..  then there is the 1989 card 193 toran with the grey snipe..  not black..  nice!  i would like to have it encased to protect it..  not many are around..

I 'might" slab the Randall Cunningham promos or the 1988 Candy Show promos (which kinda looked like the 1989 Score cards!) or maybe even the Jeff George Draft cards (and the others) just to protect them...but I have a 99.9% near complete master set of Pro Set cards, which I collected because I thought they were amazing cards (compared to Topps, etc)...plus I had a LOT of my coaches cards autogrpahed through the mail in 1989/90/91 so those are super special! Guys like Pardee and Landry who are no longer with us...I even got a couple of the insert Payton racing team cards signed when I lived in the Chicago area! I am NEVER EVER getting rid of those!!

 I could see getting '89 Score c ards graded. You can at least make a decent argument that those are rare, certainly as compared to the print runs of the other manufacturers that year. But Pro Set? I think that you can probably buy the boxes cheaper now than when they first came out. No way that I'd spent money to get cards from that set graded. I'm thinking that whoever is posting these 'deals' on eBay is just preying on the ignorance of uninformed collectors.