Protecting your cards

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ocjack

I used to buy mylar sleeves from a company called Stampmount. I found the mylar was far superior to the plastic penny sleeves.

https://www.washpress.com/stampmount.jsp

Yeah, if you're trying to preserve the Declaration of Independence.

Personally I think one doesn't have to go that far, and mylar sleeves in my experience are hard to use with toploaders.

[egri]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Yeah, if you're trying to preserve the Declaration of Independence.

There's a Nicholas Cage joke in there somewhere, I'm just not clever enough to come up with it.

[Eric72]

I've noticed something odd with the toploaders I've purchased this year. They appear to have been made with a different "recipe" than what I've gotten in the past. They have a definite chemical aroma. For long-term storage, I personally will not seal these "new recipe" toploaders in an air-tight manner. I simply don't know how the"off-gassing" might react with my cards in a sealed environment.

Just my unscientific opinion. Do your own research.

[cjhav]

Thank you to all who have responded to this post. I appreciate all of the feedback. My main concern is trapping in moisture by putting the cards into a sealable team bag. At my age, I probably won't have these cards for more than about 4-5 years, but still a concern.
Thanks again.
Charlie

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by cjhav

Thank you to all who have responded to this post. I appreciate all of the feedback. My main concern is trapping in moisture by putting the cards into a sealable team bag. At my age, I probably won't have these cards for more than about 4-5 years, but still a concern.
Thanks again.
Charlie

It isn't an airtight seal or anything, I doubt it, but welcome other viewpoints.

[G1911]

Forgive me, for I have hobby sinned. I don't use anything. The vast majority of my vintage is unsleeved and kept in cardboard boxes.

I know this is blasphemous, but I've seen far more cards damaged by corners dinged while putting into a pocket, bouncing around a loose slab, etc. than I have ever had damaged while handling myself. It's different if a card is Mint, but my century old cards are not mint anyways. I don't see much value in sleeving my VG T card. Makes them a lot easier to store, the colors look more vibrant, and oddities can be examined directly without a sealed plastic layer between my eyes and the card.

[Exhibitman]

I don't use toploaders because I am a klutz and tend to damage cards trying to get them out. My raw prewar cards are in mylar sleeves and then in albums, which works just fine and greatly facilitates sitting down and having a look. If you get the mylars designed for 1951-52 Bowman size cards they fit perfectly into 9 pocket pages. Anything really valuable is in a slab because, you know, $$$$.