Slowly starting to collect Topps sets 1985 and present. Have a question

[Wrightfan85]

So in addition to doing my 4 major sports Rookie project (which is a bit on hold for now), I'm also going to collect one Topps factory set for each year I have lived (and that's also not going to be as active for now, these are just slow projects to do over the year(s). I do have question:

The time I got back into the hobby in high school is when they made the cards so glossy that time has stuck them together. Is it more likely they'll be stuck if the set is not sealed or is there no difference? I got a 2001 Topps series 1 box a couple years back and that was a nightmare. If there's no difference, is there any solution to unstick them? I've heard of a few but with varying success.

[swarmee]

Normally, sets stored in cool and dry climates will still be fine. But since any factory set could have been stored in a Floridian outdoor storage unit for years, you just have to inspect what you see and hope for the best. Buy from sellers in dry climates. Or just don't open them. That way they are pristine in your mind until you decide to sell them and pass the risk off to someone else.

[frankhardy]

Why not try to collect the Factory sets along with a duplicate hand collated set in an album?

[deweyinthehall]

I recently purchased a 1997 Topps factory set and all 495 cards were reduced to 4 or 5 solid bricks - unusable. Went out and got a NM hand-collated set. It's a crap shoot. Even at the time, some of these horribly glossy sets were next to impossible to sort through - even when they weren't stuck together there always seemed to be extra friction between them.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

This thread is timely. Thanks for starting it. On a related note, I have been wondering about storing cards that are glossier like recent Stadium Club cards. Are they ok to store in 9 pocket pages in a binder, or will they stick?

[Wrightfan85]

Swarmee, I would be collecting the sets to look at them. Not doing this to invest.

Frank, for now I only want to collect one of each set and I don't really have the room for two of each year either. Interesting idea though, maybe for the future.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

This thread is timely. Thanks for starting it. On a related note, I have been wondering about storing cards that are glossier like recent Stadium Club cards. Are they ok to store in 9 pocket pages in a binder, or will they stick?

I've had less glossy cards stick in pages. (Classic, etc which are glossy but not like Stadium or finest) It's mostly because the smoothness allows the air to be pushed out from in between. They can be tricky to get out but won't usually be damaged except by bending them too far trying to get then to loosen up.