card saving inception dates?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by 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...

That's the album I bought in 74.

The next generation of pages was done by a couple companies, primarily Rotman which was/is in Worcester Mass. They were a waterbed company that moved into making hobby pages right as the hobby page market get going and the waterbed market was shrinking.

Made from PVC just like the waterbeds only clear. Flexible PVC has an oily plasticizer to make it flexible, and that usually isn't good for the cards or whatever else is in there. Some get stuck, but are removeable since it's just the air having been squeezed out from between the card and page. Others got wrecked by the plasticizer leaching out and getting into the card or removing some of the ink. The lucky ones had the page dry out and become a bit brittle.

The albums that were really horrible were the "magnetic" photo albums with the diagonal sticky lines on the page. Stuff always got stuck and removing nearly always ends up with paper loss. It's far worse with thin paper items. I bought a whole album full of old car ads in one of those, and eventually sent it on it's way intact since I couldn't remove any of the ads. I'd heard that putting the whole thing in the freezer would help, but not with that one.

Steve B

[DHogan]

Originally Posted by steve B

That's the album I bought in 74.

The next generation of pages was done by a couple companies, primarily Rotman which was/is in Worcester Mass. They were a waterbed company that moved into making hobby pages right as the hobby page market get going and the waterbed market was shrinking.

Made from PVC just like the waterbeds only clear. Flexible PVC has an oily plasticizer to make it flexible, and that usually isn't good for the cards or whatever else is in there. Some get stuck, but are removeable since it's just the air having been squeezed out from between the card and page. Others got wrecked by the plasticizer leaching out and getting into the card or removing some of the ink. The lucky ones had the page dry out and become a bit brittle.

The albums that were really horrible were the "magnetic" photo albums with the diagonal sticky lines on the page. Stuff always got stuck and removing nearly always ends up with paper loss. It's far worse with thin paper items. I bought a whole album full of old car ads in one of those, and eventually sent it on it's way intact since I couldn't remove any of the ads. I'd heard that putting the whole thing in the freezer would help, but not with that one.

Steve B

Rotmans furniture is still going strong in Worcester. I'm not sure when they closed their sports card store.

[Leon]

The old (top loader) holders are often yellow, brittle and crack easily. I always change them out with the new holders with no pvc that will hurt the cards.

Originally Posted by steve B

That's the album I bought in 74.

The next generation of pages was done by a couple companies, primarily Rotman which was/is in Worcester Mass. They were a waterbed company that moved into making hobby pages right as the hobby page market get going and the waterbed market was shrinking.

Made from PVC just like the waterbeds only clear. Flexible PVC has an oily plasticizer to make it flexible, and that usually isn't good for the cards or whatever else is in there. Some get stuck, but are removeable since it's just the air having been squeezed out from between the card and page. Others got wrecked by the plasticizer leaching out and getting into the card or removing some of the ink. The lucky ones had the page dry out and become a bit brittle.

The albums that were really horrible were the "magnetic" photo albums with the diagonal sticky lines on the page. Stuff always got stuck and removing nearly always ends up with paper loss. It's far worse with thin paper items. I bought a whole album full of old car ads in one of those, and eventually sent it on it's way intact since I couldn't remove any of the ads. I'd heard that putting the whole thing in the freezer would help, but not with that one.

Steve B

[irv]

Does anyone use these for their Vintage or other era cards?

I want some for my 52 Topps cards and was hoping to pick some up at the recent Toronto card Expo but struck out.

I like the fact the card can't fall out and is reasonably secured inside with nothing pushing down on them.

I have my Mays and Mantle in cubes/blocks, on their side (no weight pushing down) and although they are fine (recently checked after 20yrs) I'd still like to get them out of those based on what I have read here about them.

I am looking for these or other best ideas o what you think I should store them in, other than getting them slabbed of course.
https://www.pro-mold.com/vintagecardcases.html

[steve B]

Originally Posted by irv

Does anyone use these for their Vintage or other era cards?

I want some for my 52 Topps cards and was hoping to pick some up at the recent Toronto card Expo but struck out.

I like the fact the card can't fall out and is reasonably secured inside with nothing pushing down on them.

I have my Mays and Mantle in cubes/blocks, on their side (no weight pushing down) and although they are fine (recently checked after 20yrs) I'd still like to get them out of those based on what I have read here about them.

I am looking for these or other best ideas o what you think I should store them in, other than getting them slabbed of course.
https://www.pro-mold.com/vintagecardcases.html

I've used a few of them. Mostly the really thick ones they make for modern stuff.

The plus side is that they're really solid and don't pinch the cards at all.
The downsides are that there's no cutout for the corners, which is always a tradeoff, a chance to ding the corners, but no risk of dings a bit in from the corner.
The other obvious problem is that there's no room for cards that are slightly oversize.

Steve B

[irv]

Originally Posted by steve B

I've used a few of them. Mostly the really thick ones they make for modern stuff.

The plus side is that they're really solid and don't pinch the cards at all.
The downsides are that there's no cutout for the corners, which is always a tradeoff, a chance to ding the corners, but no risk of dings a bit in from the corner.
The other obvious problem is that there's no room for cards that are slightly oversize.

Steve B

Thanks Steve.

Having recessed/cutout corners would be a plus for sure, and when you say they are really tight, I assume there would be no room for a plastic penny sleeve too?

Was really hoping these would work as I want to get my Mantle and Mays out of those cubes but don't necessarily want to store them in top loaders.

Found a few places on E-Bay that sells them and was about to order them up shortly but now you have me rethinking that?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-PROMOLD-...gAAOSwNSxVNsX~

[PowderedH2O]

I had plastic sheets in the late 70's. In the early 80's I actually had 12 pocket sheets. Those didn't catch on, but the idea was that you could store them in scrapbooks and the sets would be thinner. I also had some Ace Cases. I think I bought them from Den's Collectors Den from the back of the Beckett guide. I was really excited to have them, but it wasn't long afterwards that I found them to be bulky and not exactly what I wanted.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I had no idea about the collectibility of cards in the mid 1970's, but I was placing my cards in Mason's Shoe Boxes in a very neat manner, so many years later, my 1974-78 cards were still pack fresh. I don't think it is unreasonable to think that a fair number of young lads from 1909-1941 might have done the same thing with their pre-war cards.