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Anonymousmid-seventies is about right, roughly coinciding with the early Beckett guides. The early sheets become a gooey mess over time also. If you have sets you put away 30 years ago, you need to change into the newer sheets which are made of a different, inert material. The old sheets can warp and leave cards feeling greasy.
The other storage devices, screw downs, top loaders etc. came shortly thereafter.