Might have done something stupid

[dark-water-dragon]

I just got two new cels today and they each had the Toei Animation sticker on that back that was not broken. To check the quality of the piece I broke the seal and pulled the pieces out. After finishing check out the cels and scanning I placed them back in their bags and put them in one of my bags as well. Do you think it was a dumb idea to break the seal or do you think it does not matter?

[cutiebunny]

For preservation purposes, I think it's actually good you broke the seal. Toei used what I call the 'cheapest plastic bag EVER' to bag their cels. It's definitely not a good archival bag, like the polypropelene bags that many collectors use to store their cel. I'd be willing to bet that the Toei bags are acidic and can damage your cel over the long haul.

Since you broke the seal, there's no point in putting them back in their original bags(unless you don't have any bags right now). Put them in a good archival bag asap.

[duotrouble]

Yeah, it's no big deal that you broke the seal. It's your artwork to do whatever you want to with. Cels aren't like action figures where they are worth less if they are removed from the box and played with. Cels were actually used in production so them being sealed doesn't mean anything to me.

I would say keep the bags with the seal in case you want to sell them in the future. You could say it's your "proof" they are real.

This reminds me of the argument of whether or not to remove repros/rilezus from their bags. I always do for scanning purposes but have run across buyers that refuse to buy just because it's been opened. I didn't damage them but some people can be stubborn. It's all about want you want to do.

[sensei]

My single rilezu was in a cheap plastic bag that had a cheap paper frame that had been stuck to it with that super-degrading Japanese celotape. While it did not hurt the cel, it had already damaged the frame (with the adhesive label of authenticity). Also, the cheap frame made the rilezu ride way out of position on the copy background. The repro cel was visibly happier in a new bag riding on the correct part of the background.

If you could be assured that the cels had been packed up by the studio in some archival way, then there would be a reason to keep the seal intact. But I'd say pretend you're being secretly filmed from the other side of the mirror in your room to make a low-budget horror film. Then, as the protagonist always decides to do -- break the seal!

Good luck! And come right back.

[Keropi]

I say...rip that seal off your forehead!!

***insert FLCL/Gunbuster 2 GIF here***

I mean...remove the seal!!

[Belldandy16]

hey all the cool kids do it.
including me!

[ginga123]

i agree with cutiebunny. the second i see a toei seal and that cheap plastic bag, i gently peel back the sticker and do a cel transfer into a new bag. if i can't remove the sticker off the bag entirely, i'll just tuck it away in an extra cel box laying around.