Best storage options for vintage?
 

Hey guys,
When it comes to vintage cards/collections, what is the best or most preferred way that you store your vintage cards? In an album? In top loaders in a box? Etc thanks

In cardboard and cigar boxes without a sleeve in sight.

You need an "All of the Above Option. A lot depends on the set, the age, and if you're going for complete sets or just some individual type cards.

True! I didn’t think of that.

How would you store complete sets?

How would you store individual cards?

Thanks

mine are all over...some are in vintage boxes I've found...some are in one of those stupid plastic watertight briefcase thingies...some are in shoeboxes...some are in binders.,

Me too! That’s why I’m trying to get ideas on how best to store them!

My sets (and a whole lot of other stuff) are housed in binders. This pic shows four types of boxes that work pretty well for everything else:

1. Bottom Left - Random shoe boxes...which are always a MUST for any nostalgic card collector. (Who knew I was a ladies size 6??)
2. Upper Left - Michael's sells great (read: cheap) quality photograph boxes, which are fantastic for stacking toploaders and slabs alike. My absolute favorite!!
3. Bottom Right - Two-row corrugated cardboard boxes that are real sturdy and great for holding (and transporting) large batches of slabs.
4. Upper Right (obscured by toploaders) - Your standard corrugated cardboard boxes, 100 count, 500 count, whatever, usually used for holding sets, but there are also ones (shown) wide enough to be filled with slabs.

Attachment 514822


5. Honorable mention - I still have a few old Pop Tarts boxes filled with random 1970's commons.

I use both top loaders and binders/sheets. I echo comments about shoe boxes being invaluable especially for oversized items that you can put in topholders and then stack them (when stacking I try to alternate direction to avoid the weight of the stack bending items at the bottom of the stack which can happen even in topholders).

For tobacco cards, I used to use the smaller tobacco sized topholders but I am moving away from them in favour of regular sized ones - when setting up at shows I just feel the smaller topholders could be prone to higher theft because of their size and ease of pocketing them.

I use the 2-row card storage boxes (1600ct?) - I find these are perfect to place topholders upright in the two rows. As stated by others there is a corresponding larger 2-row storage box that works great for slabs (albeit PSA fit better in there than SGC, SGC makes for a tight fit but still works). I like the 2-row ones because they stack well while also taking up a smaller footprint than 4-row boxes.

1000% AGREED. 1959's would be handled differently than, say T206's.

Will the four row boxes fit top loaders easily? I thought the four rows were designed for cards with no top loader?

I also go back and forth on this. Binders vs top loaders in a box? What say you?

For viewing I Enjoy binders. For protection and a bit more piece of mind, top loaders.

Plastic tombs for protection, all stored in 4 suitcases, scanned to Flickr so I can look at my collection as a whole anytime it suits me.

Agreed! For viewing albums, for protection slabs or top loaders. Flickr account for viewing one’s collection but then it’s been said if you right click and save on a photo, you can have the worlds best collection to view without having to buy a single card and you can view it anytime online!

I suppose, but that would be a pretty weird thing to do.

Agreed! I’m just repeating what I saw posted on here a while back. Someone commented it. I do agree it is a strange thing to do. But nothing surprises me in this hobby anymore!

I almost only do prewar so I have quite a bit of raw, type card, stuff. They are in penny sleeves and top loaders. Otherwise I have them in TPG cases....

Custom made to size. Stained. Total weight with slabs is 20lbs.

T201 Mecca Double Folders Complete set. Fits in either safe. (Almost time for a 3rd safe)

There's something to be said for this. All of the great finds over the years are in old cigar boxes or similar containers. And basic card boxes are made of cardboard, just like cards, so no worries about long term chemical reactions of any kind there. While it makes sense that hard plastic slabs or binder pages or any other plastic holder would protect a card better, when it comes to longevity, as in many decades or even a century plus, we don't technically know because they haven't been around that long. So it's all just speculation. In the short term, yeah, hard plastic holders are great because you can drop it and can't bend it or anything. But will that card still be ok in 2122? Who knows. In that amount of time, we don't know if there will be a reaction between the inks and the plastic or perhaps outside forces like UV light or moisture in the air or some other issue that we don't even know about yet. But cards sitting in a cardboard box for that long have been proven to be fine.

Very very interesting point! It makes you think if we have been doing it wrong all of these years and should just keep it simple and put them in cigar boxes! I like that idea actually. I noticed that one time when I bought a PSA slab on eBay, when I got it. It had moisture condensation in the slab. Now that totally sucked.

Sleeves are needed if one is dealing with Mint condition items with 4 sharp corners, but as I live in low grade land, I think it's much ado about nothing. I keep my modern cards in penny sleeves because they have 4 sharp corners to preserve, but 99% of my vintage is sleeveless. A VG tobacco card doesn't need a sleeve; sitting in a cardboard box won't hurt it. I don't see much evidence that me actually handling my cards hurts them either. More of them fit in a box, I have no worries that cardboard boxes will hurt them over long periods of time. Tons of cards are damaged by modern protection, from edge nicks on SGC cards slapping into the black frame, from screw downs pressing cards, I have not seen a card actually damaged by a yellowed top loader but I have doubts that is good for the card inside. I'm not sure the modern ways are better for anything except corner protection. Plus, it would cost a fortune to go buy top loaders or card savers and penny sleeves for all my cards at this point.

People spend way too much time fretting about slips and sleeves and slabs and not enough time just enjoy the cards for what they are.

Mine were in toploaders in a show box for the longest time but now are in waterproof safes to protect them in the event of fire or water damage.