Mag & One-Screw Cases - fool me twice...

[jchcollins]

Or another perspective - am I looking at this wrong? Does it really matter if a card can move 1 mm or so every now and then within a mag case or TPG holder? I just don’t like the idea of it, but clearly since this happens with so many cards, there are some collectors who aren’t bothered by it in the least. Convince me otherwise?


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[jchcollins]

Ok, so I've done some experiments this morning, and think I may have a solution -

I like the Ultra Pro One Touches better in terms of design, but for some 60's and 70's cards they are just too thick at 35 point, which is why the cards rattle around in them. What I have found is that they are too thick still to use with the cards I have tried in a penny sleeve - the sleeve is a bit too big for the recessed area, so the result is it just sits there on the top. You could close it up and cause a subtle indentation in the card because it's just stitting there in the sleeve on top of the rail.

Though I like the screw less, the Pro-Mold one screws at 20 point seem to be a better solution - both in use with or without a penny sleeve. The recessed area is not so deep that the penny sleeve will sit on top of it, it takes some work - but you can get the card perfectly centered inside the rails with the penny sleeve and then close it up. I tried this on a '60 Topps Bob Gibson just now - and for good measure dropped it on the floor off the side of my desk. The card did not move one bit in the holder during the fall or subsquent crash and bounce on the (carpeted) floor - success.

My next trial was a '61 Mantle AS #578. This is a card I liberated from it's PSA 5 slab due to easy observable movement in that slab. I tried to do the same method using the penny sleeve, but the fit was a bit tighter - the card has a rough cut on the top, and is ever so slightly larger I think than the '60 Gibson. So I tried just putting it in the one-screw without the sleeve and voila - the fit is tighter and once screwed down, the card does not move. If you really wham it one one side while holding it in your hand, it will shift and move the small gap typically on one side or another even in PSA cases - but that's good enough for me. My thing I hate, is when you just flip a card in a slab or case leisurely in your wrist and you can see it move.

Thanks for indulging today's lesson on my OCD! I do feel better already as these cases offer UV protection where toploaders don't. I don't display my cards in a room or anything, but I do take them out of the closet to gawk at them fairly often - so UV cases are indeed greater peace of mind considering how many flourescent lights still seem to be everywhere around me...

-John