Card Decay and chickens coming home to roost

[Rraincock]

For many years now I have kept an eye on the development of special plastic and gloss coatings. As memorabilia and autographs moved into tape/sticker territory, I wondered if future collectors would look at our collections the same way we did our grandparent’s stamp collections, full of melted tape/sticker: a yellowed goopy mess.

We have “hulking” with Topps Finest baseball/football refractor cards, and now it seems the early SP Authentic dot-matrix numbering is starting to bleed out through the card (see image). I have also noticed (over the past 15 or so years) that some of the Pacific “two paper piece” jersey cards are delaminating. I have also noticed this with some ITG H&P and BTP base jerseys.

So what is next? I would be interested to look at some of the early sticker autos to see how they are holding up (other than light fading). Do the stickers yellow? What about the acetate cards? What about those Trilogy clear thick cards? Several glossy hockey card sets from the mid 1990s to the early 2010s now stick together in packs and storage boxes.

Ultimately time will tell. I have been waiting for the grading companies to create a UV proof and oxygen free enclosure for modern cards. Something designed by a conservator with archival standards in mind.





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[creasecollector]

Definitely an interesting topic. I too have wondered how out modern cards will hold up over time with the materials used today.

[Cunnuc]

Maybe it will increase the rise of virtual cards that if you want the physical card they would have to make it.

Also, I believe these delays in products all over the world will lead to even more of these problems. Some things you wouldn't even think of like, for example, glue holding a box together of something as simple as garbage bags have entire cases coming back to the producer because when the cases were opened and several of the boxes inside did not stay sealed by the glue.

So... it is affecting something as simple as glue so you could only imagine what other problems with the supply chain will lead to over the coming years. Even our glue isn't top quality anymore. This could lead to many problems in the production of cards. It would suck if you pull a huge PC hit next year and then 5 years down the road it is coming apart while a 20 year old card is still perfect.

[WillyC]

I think this is just the nature of anything collectible... some will age well and others won't.

it's the live and learn way of doing things... I've worked in Printing and Graphic Arts for 35 years and the laser numbering on the 1998 SPA card is almost predictible to have aged like that.

laser numbering is similar to Polaroid photos... neither will age well or look as they did originally for very long.

some processes and substrates are just the wrong decision on producing collectibles... however, this hobby is less about collectibles and more about volume and producing profit.

[turnpipe]

Great post. I’m not a Hockey collector, but in sets like SPx and Fabric of the Game from the mid-2000’s I have noticed delaminating in multiple multi-colored patch cards. It’s almost like they predicted a certain swatch thickness and the multiple layers threw everything off. I’d hate to have this happen on a highly valuable patch auto but I could see it happening. Be careful out there!

[doniceage]

Well if the dot matrix does bleed thru who cares it GEM MINT. Will be fun to see how things like this play out in the future.

DON

[Rraincock]

Well if the dot matrix does bleed thru who cares it GEM MINT. Will be fun to see how things like this play out in the future.

DON

Gem Mint is the penultimate protector of a card!!!

I laugh when I see PSA 10 or SGC 100 pristine cards where the card has slipped between the front plastic and the holder. Gem mint / pristine as much as my ex-wife’s wedding vows ;-)


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