Nice recipe Mike
Good discussion points Bryan, Aaron, et al.
A UL 125 safe isn't an option for me given my interest to store large items (bat, rifles, imperial cabinets, etc.) at a "reasonable" cost. I may store digital media in the safe but realize that I'm at high risk if my safe is exposed to a long and intense fire. If my digital media becomes important enough I may invest in a small UL 125 safe.
The purpose of this post was really to try and understand where card slabs fall in the pecking order. If I had to care for a McGreachery OJ overnight, I want to know the risks and how to best protect it.
I do believe damage would occur to our cards within slabs before the plastic's melting point is reached. I know coin holders have wide range of melting points amongst TPGs although it may not be as important for coins since a melted slab may not damage the coin (
one such story here). I would hope sports card slabs are held to a higher standard but they may not be. I did broach this subject with SGC at the National several years ago and didn't get much of a response (didn't appear they were hiding anything, but really couldn't answer my question). I suspect the ranking for most to least sensitive items in my safe would go something like this:
- electronic data (safe at <125F, high risk of losing in house fire)
- plastics (safe up to ???F; different results expected for various slabs, top loaders, plastic sheets, etc.)
- paper yellowing (safe at <300F)
- albumen print damage (safe up to ???F)
- dry wood charring (wide range based on wood type, moisture content, length of exposure, etc. generally higher than paper yellowing)
- paper combusting (safe at <424F)
I may run the test from post #2 and include expendable samples of items I will store to better understand what should perhaps be placed in a better safe, what should remain low in safe and what I can raise to top of safe (higher temps). This is just taking the responsibility of caring for my collectibles one step further. I'd hate to lose anything I place in the safe and a little knowledge could go a long way towards protecting everything.
If any TPG services are following this thread, I'd love to hear anything you are willing to share on this topic, either privately or publicly.