Question about card storage

[bryantts]

Hey guys,

I have a couple of quick questions about card storage. I recently just got enough time to put together all my indiv player pages and team pages. I have some nicer cards of some players for indiv pages (ie - a gold KG Topp's Chrome).
I was wondering if it was better, since I see most of the cards in people's buckets like this, to store the cards in the soft sleeve and then the hard outside sleeve? OR is it better / just as good/ still ok to store them by taking the soft sleeve and then putting it in a 9 ring ultra pro sheet and into a binder or is that not nearly as good / riskier then storing them in a hard plastic sleeve?

Thank you all for the help,

Travis

[tarheelsnipe]

Here's what I've experienced or seen from other collectors:

Binders.
Sometimes the first or last few pages will get stuck behind the binder rings and make surface indents on the cards. Use the rigid page guard on the front and back of the collection. As far as which brand of page to use, I personally like Ultra-Pro just because of brand recognition. They have a solid reputation, and I like the fact that the pages don't get stuck together when stored for extended amounts of time. The UV protection is good I guess, but my binders are in a large bin that gets no sunlight.

Semi-rigid.
The wrong size for the card's pt. size. A lot of collectors think that by oversizing the case so the card free-falls, their card is safe. After hauling their collection in a backpack to the card shop over time, the card bangs the edges of the semi-rigid and a corner gets rounded or dog-eared.

I know you didn't ask, but for the benefit of new collectors I'll touch on penny sleeves.
- Dust slips down into the binder or semi-rigid. The dust will make small surface scratches over the gloss. This could be the difference between a 9 and 10 if you ever submit them for grading. A more experienced collector DOES check this when trading or buying.
- when placing the card in the page or case, a card corner gets hung on the sleeve or a rough edge gets caught and causes chipping. A frayed or soft corner devalues the card by 1-2 grades. The price of penny sleeves usually come out to 2-4 per penny (hence the name) if you buy in bulk (100 or more packs of 100).

My personal rule of thumb is that if the card has a value of over a dollar, it goes in a penny sleeve first and then in a box unless it's one of my PCs. I separate them further by player, then by year.

If the card value is more than $10, it goes in a semi-rigid, separated further like above. If it's more than $100, it gets graded unless it's an auto (most auto'd cards with values over $100 are due to the autos themselves, not the card condition).

Penny sleeves are a must for any card of any value unless it's encased in a graded card holder. If your cards are stored in a cool, dry place and don't get moved around a lot, then it shouldn't matter what method you use.

Sorry for the long post. Hope you get something out of it!

[bryantts]

no thank you very much for the long post, I really appreciate it!

the semi-rigid's you are referring to are the hard cases I think I am talking about that you use to put a harder protection on the cards! I was putting all my cards in there, but I noticed/thought that if I put the Chrome cards in there (slight bend to start with), they would make the cards straigten out a little more then putting them in Ultra Pro 9 bingers. The penny sleeve's that you are talking about were the soft sleeves that I had mentioned in my previous post and any cards of any value of mine have been put in there!

The reason I was asking is because I just got done making like 5-7 binders worth and had bought 200 of the ultra pro 9 sleeves and had just mad emy collection to store like that. So I guess I would be asking if I had any fear of any of my cards that I store in the 9 ultra pro binder in penny sleeves of getting messed up? I did it like you mentioned where I have my PC of my players (and have high value cards) in the penny sleeves with the players and then other inserts and RC's in another binder doing the same thing, so I guess it would be better if I take the high value cards out and then put them in the semi rigids.

two questions I had for you as well from your post were
"The wrong size for the card's pt. size"

- What did you mean by this pt. size when talking about semi-rigids?

"Dust slips down into the binder or semi-rigid. The dust will make small surface scratches over the gloss. This could be the difference between a 9 and 10 if you ever submit them for grading. A more experienced collector DOES check this when trading or buying."

If Dust slips down into either one then I guess your saying they are both flawed methods? And how would I go about combating this? keeping it in a cool place?

Main reason I'm asking is because I just put one set of 08-09 Chrome in the binders and I've got a good amount of the regular refrac and orange refrac and I was wondering if I put them in penny sleeves if it was ok to store them like the regular set in the ultra pro 9 or do I need to drop $ on getting the semi-rigids instead?

Sorry for all the questions and the long post, thanks a ton for the help so far!

Thanks,

Travis

[tarheelsnipe]

pt size, or point size, refers to the card thickness in thousandths of an inch, so .010" would be 10pt, .055" would be 55pt, .180" would be 180pt, and so on.

I see the dust problem especially at flea markets, swap meets, and card shows where the pages are exposed to the outside elements. To minimize the effects of dust and sunlight, use a penny sleeve before the card is placed in the uv protected 9-card pocket.

As for the cards having the concave "bend", it's completely normal. I wouldn't get too worried about trying to straighten them out.