card saving inception dates?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by begsu1013

i remember the walmart wagner tour and the screwdown that thing was in!

???
The Wagner was graded already when Walmart had it.

[btcarfagno]

Penny sleeves were around by 1986/87 for sure. Top loaders maybe a year or two after that. Screw down holders were around by this time as well.

I also remember a short period of time in the early 1990's where someone had come out with a plastic holder that was supposed to take the place of the screwdown. This new holder had like a little snap at the bottom that would open it up. Seemed like a neat idea, but I don't think it was very good at keeping the card from moving around while it was inside.

The nine pocket pages I definitely remember n the early 1980's.

Remember these?



I think I got mine directly from Topps. It opened up and there were slots to put the cards inside in team order. Also came with stickers with the names of the teams. This thing was "it" in my life at the time. I had hit the big time when this bad boy arrived.

Tom C

[ajquigs]

I used the pages my mom had for photos around 1979-80. She'd buy me 9 pocket pages when she ordered the various sizes she needed for her albums. I still have a good number of non-prime cards in pages from those days and the cards are well preserved. I'm pretty sure the pages were non-acidic, etc and maintain the cards nicely. The occasional sheet has puckered a bit, but most are fine.
The other protection devices from that time that I remember are screw downs and a version of a snap case. Both of those were worse for the cards than sheets, but dealers would often use them to highlight some of their more expensive cards.

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Remember these?



I think I got mine directly from Topps. It opened up and there were slots to put the cards inside in team order. Also came with stickers with the names of the teams. This thing was "it" in my life at the time. I had hit the big time when this bad boy arrived.

Tom C

I had this one. Same deal with team stickers that you put inside to categorize by team. For all intents and purposes, this was my bank vault for all of those valuable 1988 Topps cards.

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Remember these?



I think I got mine directly from Topps. It opened up and there were slots to put the cards inside in team order. Also came with stickers with the names of the teams. This thing was "it" in my life at the time. I had hit the big time when this bad boy arrived.

We had those in the mid-to-late '70s.

[Mdmtx]

I got one of those boxes from an offer on a topps wrapper for my 1976 football cards

[glynparson]

Peter is correct in 1988 it was in Copeland's collection. Was on the Wal Mart tour for its eventual giveaway in 1995.

[steve B]

I bought the first 9 pocket pages I saw in 1974, there was a small binder with the team logos on it too. Really poor pages, almost no extra room, and while it was sideload two of the columns loaded right next to each other so the cards could slide out and get creased on the other card.

First screwdown I saw was a sample the local shop got. Very nice, plastic screws and an insert so the card didn't get clamped in the holder. Almost like a slab, but with screws.

The next were folded over lexan. Pinched the cards on one end, but they were pretty secure. There was a batch of fairly nice commercially made ones than later someone I think local to Boston did a lot of homemade ones that weren't all that nice.

One of the things I need to scan is the big "collection" of card storage supplies I have since I didn't get rid of any.

Steve B

[begsu1013]

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[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by begsu1013

was there a monumental sale of a wagner in 87/88? (not that all of them aren't)

1988 was when Jim Copeland bought the "Nr-Mt" Wagner (after Mastro trimmed it). He then sold it to Gretzky and McNall in 1991, at which time PSA graded it (the first card they ever graded). They then sold it to Wal-Mart in 1995, I think.

[midmo]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Remember these?



Tom C

Nice. I had that locker too. Got mine directly from Topps in '80 or '81 I think. Most of my good cards were in pages/albums then. There were some type of individual sleeves back then because my local card shop had a huge corkboard wall behind the counter that he pinned cards to. Although he might have just cut pages up. The memory is a little foggy.

[begsu1013]

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[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by begsu1013

psa was not around in '88.

inconceivable that there mighta been 2 tours?

or walmart got the idea to buy that one after they saw the numbers that were brought in to see it?

Gretzky sold to Walmart in 1995. The card was graded in 1991. I have no idea about 1988. What are you saying happened in 1988, I thought it was in Copeland's private collection at that point, did it go on tour?

[begsu1013]

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[trdcrdkid]

Plastic pages were prevalent at shows by 1975, to judge by the pictures in SCD and the ads for the pages that were all over SCD then. Not sure when they were introduced specifically for baseball cards, but my guess is the early 70s. I'm sure i could pinpoint it more exactly if i triied. I remember around 1980 there was a big to-do in the hobby about how the PVC used in plastic pages up to that time could damage cards long term, and the shift to non-PVC pages (which have been standard since then.

[DHogan]

When I started collecting around 1990 or so, the were 9 pocket pages. They were not as good as todays Ultra Pro pages. The cards are all stuck solid in the pages now.

[Pilot172000]

Originally Posted by DHogan

When I started collecting around 1990 or so, the were 9 pocket pages. They were not as good as todays Ultra Pro pages. The cards are all stuck solid in the pages now.

This begs the question, how long will a PSA or SGC graded case last? Will the plastic do any harm to the cards?

[DHogan]

Originally Posted by Pilot172000

This begs the question, how long will a PSA or SGC graded case last? Will the plastic do any harm to the cards?

The pages that I have my cards in them from 1990 to 1995. On some of the pages, there's a oily film on the inside of the plastic. So all is not lost.

[DixieBaseball]

I didn't take the time to read through this thread but for me during the 70's/80's, I used either 9 pocket binder pages or my personal favorite for rounding corners over time, The Ace Case. There was nothing quite like it when it came out. I put all my Willie, Mickey, and Hank's in these... Just enough room to slide around for all 4 corners, but they looked great in those Ace Cases! For every 6 months you kept a card in an Ace Case, you would gain a ding or two, thus hurting condition.

[Jantz]

I still have my card lockers like the one Tom posted from when I was a kid.

Here was another card locker that was manufactured in 1968. As far as I know there are five different versions.

[JTysver]

Originally Posted by Jantz

I still have my card lockers like the one Tom posted from when I was a kid.

Here was another card locker that was manufactured in 1968. As far as I know there are five different versions.

If that's the hard plastic kind, I'd been seeking one. I recall the first I saw one of those was in the mid 70s but it had some 1968 cards inside so it makes sense that it was from 1968.

[begsu1013]

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[oaks1912]

K & M Company in Torrance, California produced baseball card specific plastic sheets (PVC) around '73 or '74. They were sold separately and part of a package with a thin vinyl album that contained all of the Major League ball logos. The only size initially available was a 9 pocket sheet for standard sized cards. These were sold at toy stores, such as Toys R Us. Within a few years different designs and sizes were introduced by a few companies. ...Prior to these sheets, I used a 6 pocket vinyl sheet initially designed for Polaroid snapshots. These were sold at drug stores (either Walgreens or Woolworths)... Fortunately I removed my cards from these years ago. An unfortunate side effect is that these sheets probably destroyed more cards that they saved. During this same period photo albums with peel back plastic sheets (covering adhesive strips) were introduced for photos. Unfortunately this method of storage destroyed the value and condition of even more cards. While cards were very inexpensive in the 70's (compared to today), the storage methods introduced during this period were very destructive long term. It will be interesting to see how professionally graded cards hold up over time. After all, plastic is a petroleum product and tends to destabilize over time...