I'll rather be safe then sorry, also when it's old no longer produced hardware I'm not taking any risks, ESD damage might not be seen directly and I've destroyed a few things over the years and some of value.
I destroyed a Radeon hd 5870 2GB eyefinity edition for 6 monitors, that was 600$ down the drain and I only handled it with my hands while reworking my system. But it become a nice expensive book stand
Then I've had things working that have been handled badly.
So the risk is there and it's up to you how cautionus you are. Tho I never buy anything laying around on textile and such.
