Hobby supplies history

[bh3443]

Originally Posted by Steve D

I hated those screwdowns with the black cardboard insert and plastic screws!

You had to be exceptionally careful when putting a card in the holder or taking one out, since the cut-out in the insert was too often a bit on the small side.

My parents bought me a Pete Rose rookie card for Christmas in 1984 (my last Christmas before going into the US Air Force in January 1985), and it was in one of those holders. When I tried to take the card out of the holder, it was wedged into the insert so tightly, it couldn't be removed without damaging the corners.

I had also bought several of the holders to put some of my cards in, and could not get a lot of the cards in the holders due to the too-small openings.

Also, the screws could not always be tightened completely, and could be easily stripped, causing the holder to remain loose.

Steve

Hi Steve ,
When the crew of guys were making these screw downs, there were some problems that were short and long term and some horrible results!

First off, at one point I had to buy a box of extra screws because of what you said: they strip easy and don't always line up right!

Secondly, I had a good friend who was a huge Dave Winfield fan and collector. He worked for me in the store and he accumulated well over 50 Winfield Rookies back in the 80's when they were a hot hot card. Well, my friend Dave put them ALL in those screw downs. When he left for college out in UCLA, he sold me his collection. I was happy to have 50+ Winfield Rookies as they were really selling well. So, I displayed them and within minutes a customer bought one and asked me for a screw driver to free the card and look at this gem mint beauty. To my horror (and his), once un-screwing the holder, the card was stuck to the front piece and it would not budge. After an hour or so, we decided that I'd refund him and remove the card and then sell it to him once freed!
Well, the card came off the screw down, but all 4 corners remained on the screw down, and it became apparent that every one of the 50+ Winfield cards were now part card and part screw down! After removing and destroying 4-5 of them, I had to do something, so I sold them "as is" for $ 5 a card and explained why to the buyers.
Why did this happen? I'm not exactly sure, but we found out that the maker of the holders was using basically any type of plexi-glass, lucite or whatever clear scrap junk the hardware store would sell him!
This fiasco helped launch a big investigation into the supply industry and guys on here like Frank Barning and many of us that read SCD/BHN will recall the "IS PVC BAD FOR CARDS" issue that put fear in the hearts of many collectors and dealers.

I knew when Steve B started this thread that I'd have some interesting input, and once again, thanks Steve for this fun thread!

In closing, I hope we never have issues like the screw downs with all those PSA/BECKETT/SGC holders! Now that would be a nightmare!

Regards,
Bill Hedin