MagPro Cases - Option/Alternative to Grading

[inaka]

Hey all,

I saw messier2's "Grade or Keep it Raw?" post/poll where the consensus was to keep certain cards raw that are not worth grading. I totally agree and I too have a bunch of cards that don't make sense to grade (or grading companies won't grade them.)

For my PC cards that don't make sense to grade, I used to keep them in a one-touch, and then I designed custom sticker labels ordered online to give them an elevated "set" look even when raw in a one-touch. Here's a Matt Stairs sample:





These worked great, but when stored with my graded cards they kind of get lost/hidden since they're smaller and don't have a label.

I might be out of the loop, but haven't seen much talk about MagPro magnetic cases, and just wanted to bring them up since I didn't hear much about them and really like them. They are about $3-$4 each, and seem to be a great in-between for those cards that aren't quite worthy of grading, but you don't want to stick them in a binder or one-touch. Or if you're kind of OCD and want more of a graded slab like look that is easily swap-out-able.

MagPro Cases are kind of like if a one-touch and a graded slab had a love child.

I recently designed some retro 70s super graphic style custom labels for my PC that I print/cut at home on my inkjet printer to fit into the MagPro cases and I'm pretty blown away at how nice hey look. Here are a few examples:

Same card in a MagPro:


Invaders card:


Dave Stewart Front:


Dave Stewart Back:


Stabler Auto in EX condition (not worth grading):


I saw that company offers custom labels you can order from them, but they can't put trademarked team logos on them, so that's understandable, but a bummer.

Is anyone else using the MagPro cases?

I didn't hear anything at all about these cases before I took the gamble on a 5-pack, but I'm really happy with them.

Just throwing this out there as another option along with one-touches when keeping it raw for that cards not quite required for grading.

[ChaseUA]

Hadn’t seen these yet but they look great! What are you using to make the custom labels? I may order some to tinker with.

How does the overall case size compare to PSA?

[inaka]

Originally Posted by ChaseUA

Hadn’t seen these yet but they look great! What are you using to make the custom labels? I may order some to tinker with.

How does the overall case size compare to PSA?

I'm just using an inkjet printer with photo paper, and cutting them with an x-actor knife. I can get 18 labels on one sheet of paper.

These cases are slightly smaller than PSA slabs.
Both a tad thinner and a tad smaller. Here's a side-by-side with a PSA slab:



Hope that helps for a size companion.

[inaka]

I created some MagPro labels for some custom cards I had autographed.
(PSA understandably won't grade custom cards anymore, so these are a nice option)









Really liking these things.

Is anyone else using these cases for cards you're not grading?

[pumpkinescobar]

Originally Posted by inaka

I created some MagPro labels for some custom cards I had autographed.
(PSA understandably won't grade custom cards anymore, so these are a nice option)









Really liking these things.

Is anyone else using these cases for cards you're not grading?

Those look great. How much are you getting them for each and what program are you using to design the flips?

[inaka]

Originally Posted by pumpkinescobar

Those look great. How much are you getting them for each and what program are you using to design the flips?

Hey thanks!

I'm just ordering them from Amazon.
I tried to order direct from the company but the shipping was insane. Shipping from Amazon was cheap or free.

Depending on how many you order, they are just over $3 each. Basically like $3.50/ea for the most part.

I design everything in Photoshop.

[rnocards]

These MagPro cases are pretty cool. I'm assuming that you could still get PSA/DNA to authenticate and grade the autos, even though they are on custom cards. PSA won't be involved, so the card itself is not authenticated, but PSA/DNA could still authenticate the auto. They don't have to be encapsulated, so even like a JSA or BAS sticker would be nice.

For me, not having the auto authenticated by a TPG, would be very tough to include in my PC.

I'm currently trying to put together some cut photos and cut autos, and have them encapsulated with an auto grade. I already sent one out recently to PSA/DNA, and will see how it comes back.

There is a lot of restrictions with these TPG companies, in what they can accept and can not accept, which I find annoying. TPG should exist for the benefit of the customers, since the customers are the ones paying, and should accommodate a wide range of customer requests, but a lot of times, I find them too restrictive in how they do things.

[TXRunner]

These look great! Nice work. I wish I could put together graphics like that. I don't have those skills. LOL.

[rfgilles]

Inaka is basically HGA

[discodanman45]

Been using these for all cards under $100 that don't need to be graded. They are crystal clear and display cards extremely well in my Frankenstein collection.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by rnocards

These MagPro cases are pretty cool. I'm assuming that you could still get PSA/DNA to authenticate and grade the autos, even though they are on custom cards. PSA won't be involved, so the card itself is not authenticated, but PSA/DNA could still authenticate the auto. They don't have to be encapsulated, so even like a JSA or BAS sticker would be nice.

Yes, PSA now will only place a sticker on the back of custom cards, and they no longer encapsulate custom cards that are autographed. It makes sense to avoid confusion with people that create fake "1/1's" complete with the Topps logo, etc. just to deceive people, but then grade the auto only to get it encapsulated.

For me, I personally don't care about the auto authentication because I literally have a photo of each person signing the cards.

Here's Dr. J. mid-way though the autograph of the exact custom card I made:

Before:



After:



That to me is better than any grading company sticker, but I get that each person is different.

At these signing shows, they usually offer JSA or Beckett authentication for only +$10 which is nice since it's cheap and immediate. But I usually only get that for wall art or something tough to send in to a grading company. But again, that's just me.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

Been using these for all cards under $100 that don't need to be graded. They are crystal clear and display cards extremely well in my Frankenstein collection.

Yup, me too. They really are a great option for cards not quite worth grading.
I have a ton of Matt Stairs, Dave Stewart, and Ray Fosse graded baseball cards in my collection, and the grading fees for each card would cost more than the cards are worth.

But at around $3/ea for these magnetic swappable slabs, it's a great option.

[rnocards]

Here's Dr. J. mid-way though the autograph of the exact custom card I made:

You know that photo itself could be authenticated as a Type I, and encapsulated by PSA/DNA.

But, they charge a lot for doing that, so probably not worth it.

[jtclockwork]

I like this idea. I'm going to try this out with some JSA-stickered autographed cards that are not slabbed.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by jtclockwork

I like this idea. I'm going to try this out with some JSA-stickered autographed cards that are not slabbed.

If you create some custom MagPro labels, I'd love to see the final product!

[jtclockwork]

Originally Posted by inaka

If you create some custom MagPro labels, I'd love to see the final product!

I'm going to try. If they don't turn out too terribly, I will post some.

[jtclockwork]

I ordered 10. Here are two of them. Works well in the collection. Thanks for the idea!





Date is wrong on Billy Chapman -- should be 2024 - gotta fix that. I'm also going to lighten up the photo on that one and delete "Chapman" and put (Silent Night Deadly Night) on 2nd line.

I pretty much copied your baseball design as best I could as I think it's great.

[jtclockwork]

Here's the edited version. Much better:



Credit to my wife for putting these together.

[inaka]

jtclockwork, that looks great!

Really fun to see what people will come up with. Thanks for posting!

[TXRunner]

Do you guys have template/file for the header? I want to put some of my son's college baseball cards in these cases as gifts for family members.

[jtclockwork]

My wife did it on Photoshop with my "help". Basically, measure out the space, it's around 2 1/2 by 3/4 inches. Then it was a lot of cut and paste, resizing and shifting things around. We didn't use any kind of template, but we did copy a lot of the OP's style on the baseball ones.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by TXRunner

Do you guys have template/file for the header? I want to put some of my son's college baseball cards in these cases as gifts for family members.

Here's the template/layout I made in Photoshop with the PSA Red type border, as well as a blank one:





Hope this helps.

[Dredd84]

Originally Posted by inaka

Here's the template/layout I made in Photoshop with the PSA Red type border, as well as a blank one:





Hope this helps.

Amazing custom labels! I love the look of these and would love to add some to my collection. Is this something hard to create? I don’t have photoshop unfortunately and am trying to think of other alternatives.


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[inaka]

Originally Posted by Dredd84

Amazing custom labels! I love the look of these and would love to add some to my collection. Is this something hard to create? I don’t have photoshop unfortunately and am trying to think of other alternatives.

I personally use Photoshop, but a free popular online web-browser-based photo editor that might work for you is called PhotoPea:

https://www.photopea.com/

It mimics the menu system and features of photoshop, so it might work well for small projects like this. Hope this helps.

[Dredd84]

Originally Posted by inaka

I personally use Photoshop, but a free popular online web-browser-based photo editor that might work for you is called PhotoPea:

https://www.photopea.com/

It mimics the menu system and features of photoshop, so it might work well for small projects like this. Hope this helps.

Thank you very much! I really appreciate that!


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