Plastic for Cards, I can't Stress Enough!
 

Please if any of you long time collectors have cards in old top loads or card savers that are turning yellow from the acid in the plastic, please rescue your collectibles. I can't stress enough that it can eat the cards.

Those small green parts still in the holder are from the front of the Candy Card.

See attached:

Terrible!

I assume that the deterioration of that toploader did not cause any problems with nearby cards or any other cards stored in the same box?

Wow - thank you for the heads up. I have cards in that type of holder and they've been there for a long time. When I get a chance (soon) I'm going to start checking what I have. I'm hoping that the fact I live in a low humidity area will result in minimal damage. It would really blow to have a nice card damaged like the one in your post.

I have a lot of cards in penny sleeves and then those are inserted into other more substantial plastic sleeves. Does anybody know if the penny sleeves are relatively immune to plastic decay?

Because I've only had a few conversations with other people about it I consider my view to be mostly anecdotal, but even with badly yellowed Card Savers and toploaders the penny sleeve inside them was 100% clean and protective of the card.

I know there's a sizable camp of people that view a penny sleeve as unnecessary in a Card Saver and even some that view it unnecessary in a toploader, but since I started replacing yellowing CSav/toploader in the late-90s into the 2000s I don't mind the extra plastic.

I wonder if this also applies to old photos? I have my snapshot collection all in small-Large card savers (basically brand new).

I've tried researching do card savers bend cards/photos over time (as they usually are not straight) do they stick etc. Very little info I can find. The small amount of info I've read say it's climate related. And lots of first hand accounts I read say their yellowed plastic holders are perfectly fine.

I have an unopened hanger pack of top loaders from the 80s that seem perfectly fine and are still clear (as clear as 80s plastic can be). So I'm really not sure what to think.

My question is if it was more a case of being stored in a humid environment rather than the fault of the holder.

I have discovered boxes upon boxes of cards in top loaders from my youth that have all turned that fetching shade of nicotine. All were kept in an ideal, unchanging clime for decades, and all were fine. The top loaders looked like a disaster, but the cards, once removed, were as bright and beautiful as a tranquil sunrise. And, because they were from my youth, this predated when the 1-2 punch of the penny sleeve/top loader came into play. These cards were naked inside their top loaders, so had been exposed to over 30 years of direct contact with the plastic.

In fact, just yesterday, I discovered a stack of goodies that had sat in a corner, forgotten about since the days when you could say "Bel Biv Devoe" and people didn't immediately think you were having a grand mal seizure. A small pile of 52T, and for my fellow hockey lovers, a pair of Turk Broda rookies. Nicotine top loaders. All was well.

Then again, the OP was using some sort of off-brand Card Saver, and I'm going on about top loaders. Perhaps my musings amount to apples vs. oranges because of this? Who knows.

E98
 

E98s seem bad about that for some reason...Jerry

100% agree, I've seen it quite often with E98s.

Also
 

Also had some “Magic Marker” autographed photos have the marker bleed into the plastic page wrecking the autograph

(Spit-takes a mouthful of coffee mid-sip, drops mug and tablet, runs to the closet to check on his cards in top loaders).

I always recycle my cards in new holders ,,this was a good topic

Great post and hi Dan. After coming home from a card show back in the 90s, I tried taking a card out of a tightly screwed down plastic holder. The ink on the card decided to stay on the holder instead of the cardboard. I think most all cards should be in Mylar sleeves and then protected by a thicker shell. If cards are stuck to plastic holders, apply some science on them and put em in the freezer for a bit. It should do the trick for you to get the card out without damage.

Not that it would apply on this board, but the UV coatings on lots of 1990s shiny tends to 'brick' over time. As for the roached plastics, I have yet to see it harm a card except when moisture or direct sunlight are involved. Anything really good, though, I store in mylar sleeves inserted into either card savers or top loaders.

Photos are a story of their own. One thing in particular is that Sharpie writing can migrate to a holder, especially if there is heat involved. I once had a signed photo in a frame and when I went to remove it, the signature was on the glass. It was pretty cool looking, actually, but ruined.

The same thing has happened to Morrell Meats and Mothers Cookies (52/53) which both have semi-gloss surfaces, particularly when in screw downs or are densely packed in boxes.. I switched to mylar around 1990. It took nearly ten years to transfer the collection. For less expensive cards penny sleeves are fine (rotated every decade or so. Anything historically irreplaceable or valuable mylar is the best... or find out when it's too late..

Presumably, the sleeves found in graded card holders (PSA, Beckett, and more recently SGC) are mylar, not polypropylene, and always have been? I never really thought about that until now, but I hope so.....

I busted open a CGC slab the other day (Mr. Dremel got a lot of work in) and I think that sleeve is polypro, not mylar.

Another one where the surface can deteriorate is the Dexter Press PC set.

I regularly change out cards in really old, yellowing plastic holders. It seems there is a never ending supply of that old crap.

Yuck...
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