First card in a set - any childhood stories?

[aelefson]

I am not sure how many kids did it, but it was a very common practice among dealers. Even into the early 2000s, there were at least two dealers at the Wilmington MA show that had most of their wares (all pre 1970 including prewar) in piles with elastics around them (usually sorted numerically for Topps). These piles included cards worth hundreds of dollars. It was much more common in the 70s and 80s. I would guess most dealer stopped the practice in the late 80s/early 90s as Copeland and other buyers were focusing on condition to a greater extent.

Alan

[nolemmings]

I used a card locker like this one on ebay--which I ordered through my mom's Harriet Carter mail-order gift catalog:


Mine was first used in 1968, and although the Ebay listing claims this to be from that year, you can tell from the inner doors that the expansion Royals and Pilots have been given slots, so it clearly was made in 1969. In mine those bottom slots were used for checklists, league leaders, etc., at least the first year. After that I used it for a few more years and did rubber-band the "misc" cards.

I popped the doors off almost immediately because it was otherwise difficult and sometimes damaging to remove the cards. Also, when a slot was full those notches you see that hold the slats would dig into the cards at the top--for me the team cards and managers.

As the new season began the old cards were put away in those boxes that held bank checks-- I had dozens of them--which in turn were put in larger boxes.

More to the OP's question, though, I never sorted them in numerical order and thus never would have had rubber band marks on card #1.

[HRBAKER]

Always sorted mine by teams in alpha order by league.

[Bcwcardz]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I used a card locker like this one on ebay--which I ordered through my mom's Harriet Carter mail-order gift catalog:


Mine was first used in 1968, and although the Ebay listing claims this to be from that year, you can tell from the inner doors that the expansion Royals and Pilots have been given slots, so it clearly was made in 1969. In mine those bottom slots were used for checklists, league leaders, etc., at least the first year. After that I used it for a few more years and did rubber-band the "misc" cards.

I popped the doors off almost immediately because it was otherwise difficult and sometimes damaging to remove the cards. Also, when a slot was full those notches you see that hold the slats would dig into the cards at the top--for me the team cards and managers.

As the new season began the old cards were put away in those boxes that held bank checks-- I had dozens of them--which in turn were put in larger boxes.

More to the OP's question, though, I never sorted them in numerical order and thus never would have had rubber band marks on card #1.

Here is something I used in the early 80s. Although mine is actually long gone I wish to purchase a clean one for sentimenatal reasons.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[Kurri17]

Originally Posted by Bcwcardz

Here is something I used in the early 80s. Although mine is actually long gone I wish to purchase a clean one for sentimenatal reasons.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Actually found a couple of these lockers in a hobby (i.e. models) shop recently. Never got one as a kid despite always kind of wanting one, so picked one up in pretty nice condition. A nice remnant of the era.

[steve B]

I have a couple of the hard plastic storage boxes shown, both with and without the expansion teams. One red , one green.
I thought they were the ones offered on the wrappers, but hearing they were bought at retail makes me wonder.

I also have one of the other ones, it's not in great shape, but it's still pretty cool.

Just by having been around a while I've built up a fairly nice collection of hobby supplies. - Being too lazy to toss them all or crazy enough to keep a few of each when I switch to something easier/newer/better doesn't hurt.

Steve B

[Bestdj777]

Really appreciate the stories everyone! It looks like there were at least a couple people storing in that matter, so maybe there is some merit to the theory. Either way, it's great to hear about card collecting before the binder days of the 90s and grading companies today when they were simply childhood treasures.

[Lueth2048]

As I got older and I got closer to completing a set I would shift my collection to number order to keep an easier track of what I needed. For some reason I never really liked checking off cards on a checklist.

When I was the in the eighth grade (1977-78) a comic book store opened in my neighborhood and I began buying boxes specially made for trading cards. From then on it was always number order for me.

[RTK]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I used a card locker like this one on ebay--which I ordered through my mom's Harriet Carter mail-order gift catalog:


Mine was first used in 1968, and although the Ebay listing claims this to be from that year, you can tell from the inner doors that the expansion Royals and Pilots have been given slots, so it clearly was made in 1969. In mine those bottom slots were used for checklists, league leaders, etc., at least the first year. After that I used it for a few more years and did rubber-band the "misc" cards.

I popped the doors off almost immediately because it was otherwise difficult and sometimes damaging to remove the cards. Also, when a slot was full those notches you see that hold the slats would dig into the cards at the top--for me the team cards and managers.

As the new season began the old cards were put away in those boxes that held bank checks-- I had dozens of them--which in turn were put in larger boxes.

More to the OP's question, though, I never sorted them in numerical order and thus never would have had rubber band marks on card #1.

I still have my card locker, a couple vintage Cubs and Sox stickers on it, had them sorted by team, favorite players or coolest looking card on top. I recall the cards being difficult to get out of the locker. My overflow of cards were in a shoebox, all with rubber bands diagonally corner to corner.