Question on storing wax cases

[ocjack]

Question for those that save full wax cases of cards: Where and how do you store them? I have some in my garage in a cabinet (off the floor) and some in the house in various cabinets. I'm concerned about the ones in the garage (and to a lesser degree the ones in the house) that could be susceptible to eventual weather or "critter" damage. (fwiw, the garage and house are "alarmed" so that's not at issue.) Am I missing some obvious storage solution?

[mcgwirecom]

Anything I have that I deem valuable I keep in a climate controlled environment. Years ago I stored some card sets in a crawl space that was not climate controlled. Got hot in summer and cold in winter. I found that after several years the cards were getting stuck together. SO I would stay away from attic or garage (unless heated).

[UKCardGuy]

+1 for climate controlled.

From what I've seen of pack breaks on YouTube heat and humidity are the biggest perils. Assuming the cases are vintage and contain gum, you want to be sure that the gum doesn't "melt" in the packs.

[ocjack]

Thanks for the comments. I'm aware of the hot/cold aspects and they aren't an issue. Really, it's a storage issue. The cases take up a lot of room in the house or garage. Does anyone use public storage facilities? I know a lot of them have interior spaces that are "conditioned." But I had an outside storage unit years ago that had an on-site manager's unit. Yet twice, I was notified that my lock was missing (their way of saying "broken in to" without claiming any liability lol).

[bnorth]

Avoid basements also unless you have a good dehumidifier. I bought some boxes from a guy who stored them in his basement since the 80's. WOW did they stink like mold/old stale smell when I received them.

[ocjack]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Avoid basements also unless you have a good dehumidifier. I bought some boxes from a guy who stored them in his basement since the 80's. WOW did they stink like mold/old stale smell when I received them.

Living in SoCal, if you have a basement, it's where your car elevator drops off one of your many cars to make room on the motor court ("driveway" to the rest of us). And yes, I've seen some car elevators that drop you into an area that looks better than the Bat-Cave and has a wet-bar. lol

[Directly]

Depending on their potential value sell off the extra wax cases while the market is good--

[ocjack]

I'm learning that selling cases is not exactly easy. Unless the buyer is local or will arrange pick-up, shipping charges are not cheap. Added to that, most want to inspect the case to ensure it hasn't been opened or tampered with. And of course, at current values (and they do include some valuable cases), most will hesitate to send money first.

So, yes - selling them would be a good idea. But the logistics make it extremely difficult.

Fwiw, anyone in SoCal or traveling here interested in buying? I won't list them here since I don't want this to look like a BST thread. Anyone interested, can contact me for details.