Storing and enjoying cards in binders

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Vintageloz

Hi Todd

Can you post a link to where you get the Mylar sleeves?
Thanks
Chris

Sure. Here's one I have used:

https://tcverify.com/

[bammerbb]

These posts brought back a lot of memories from my childhood. I started like a lot of folks with rubber bands in a shoebox. At first I had Yankees in one box (my favorite) and everyone else in another.

Now, I'm going back to binders. This all came about because I am sick of PSA being so far behind and gouging at $200 per card. If I want, I'm going to SGC for higher end cards and the rest will be in binders, inside a penny sleeve, then in a 9 pocket sheet (Ultra Pro only). Has anyone used the pages for the graded cards? I do like the way their holders look with the black plastic holder. I plan to buy the graded ones and not worry about grading myself. And putting a Street & Smith's with them is a nice touch. I used to get either a Street or a Baseball Digest every year. Sometimes I even purchased a team or Jay Yankees yearbook. I would like to hear everyone's thoughts on the pages for the graded cards. I'm going to check to see if there's on that SGC holders will fit.

[YazFenway08]

If you are talking about those 4-pocket, recessed pages that look like the graded cards “snap” into, I am interested in feedback on those as well. I just can’t seem to get the regular 4-pocket ultra pros to work right with slabs.

It seems those graded card pages were discontinued years ago by ultra pro (?) and the few I see on eBay are really expensive and not sure of the quality.

I love the idea of having a binder where 98% of the cards are secure in the standard 9 pocket sheets and the top stars/rookies are graded and displayed in two front pages. That’s kinda how I collect my sets anyway.

[53toppscollector]

Originally Posted by YazFenway08

If you are talking about those 4-pocket, recessed pages that look like the graded cards “snap” into, I am interested in feedback on those as well. I just can’t seem to get the regular 4-pocket ultra pros to work right with slabs.

It seems those graded card pages were discontinued years ago by ultra pro (?) and the few I see on eBay are really expensive and not sure of the quality.

I love the idea of having a binder where 98% of the cards are secure in the standard 9 pocket sheets and the top stars/rookies are graded and displayed in two front pages. That’s kinda how I collect my sets anyway.

the tough thing I've found is that 9 pocket pages, if you put your card in a soft sleeve first before the page pocket, the fit is very tight. im now going to experiment with the 8 pocket pages on my 1960 set and see how it feels, with the 4 pocket pages + cardsavers at the front of the binder.

[toppcat]

Thick page lifters front and back in a binder help immensely with curl.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Thick page lifters front and back in a binder help immensely with curl.

Really...curved or flat?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[bammerbb]

That is a good question about the lifters. Don't know if I would have thought of it. I have another question while we're talking about things, one set I want to do is the 1956 set. I assumed an 8 pocket page would work, but today I was on Ultra Pro's site and the specs said for cards 3 1/2" by 2 3/4". My '56 Elston Howard is 3 3/4" by 2 5/8", so what does everyone else use? I would prefer to stick with ultrapro. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[mikemb]

The Ultra Pro 8 pocket pagwes work well with the 1956 Topps cards.

Mike

1956 Topps Page.jpg

[53toppscollector]

looks awesome. did you sleeve them before putting them in the album pages?

[mikemb]

No, did not put them in sleeves. I have tried using sleeves with other sets and it seems to make the cards look a little dull.

I probably should try the mylar sleeves.

Mike

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by mikemb

The Ultra Pro 8 pocket pagwes work well with the 1956 Topps cards.

Mike

Do the Ultra Pro 8 pocket pages open at the top or on the side? I thought I had read somewhere that they opened in the top and cards tended to pop out of them some. I have older 8 pocket pages from BCW that open on the side, but I'm not sure what they are made of. However, I've had cards in them for over 20 years and haven't noticed any problems.

[mikemb]

They open at the top.

I also had 8 pocket pages that opened at the side but that was many years ago and I replaced them as I was not sure what they were made of.

No issues with cards sliding out.

Mike

[YazFenway08]

I just received a few of these plastic “snap” holders for PSA graded cards for experimentation. So far I dig them…good option for the few higher end graded cards in my 50s sets…I only have between around 8 of the main cards graded in each set so two of these snap sheets at the front of the binder seem to work.

Only problem is that these sheets aren’t “universal”…they don’t fit SGC. Has anyone ever seen these type of sheets that would accommodate SGC sized flips? Seems like there would be a market for it…but maybe I’m the only one that likes these…

[53toppscollector]

some updated binder comments/thoughts, after trying a few different setups over the last few weeks.

Unikeep binders - For the price, they are good. You can get a 3 pack for $21 on amazon. Each binder will hold between 50-70 pages, depending on the thickness of the pages. The 8 pocket pages did not fit into them as well as regular 9 pocket, 15 pocket or 4 pocket pages. The ring system is flimsy, and I actually broke one of the rings unsnapping it. Once it breaks, its done, since its molded plastic

Lighthouse Vario binders - 100% the best option out there that I've tried. The pages move effortlessly from side to side, no snags or pressing against the rings. Bigger capacity than the unikeep binders, and the slipcase is nice. They are more expensive, but I believe they are worth the price at this point.

[Cmvorce]

Agree on Lighthouse. I love them.

[mmcgruff]

Wonderful thread everyone! It’s a bit pricy but for me it’s
baseball card binders.com, I use both ultra pro pages and sleeves too.

[HOF Yankees]

For the longest time I have been both a graded and raw/ungraded type collector but then when I started set collecting I noticed myself buying more Raw 1960 topps cards and putting those in the binder and it wasn't until now or a year or two ago that I may just get only raw cards and I love them. As mentioned I love reading the backs, the bios, stats, World Series cards, checklists, league leaders and the baseball thrills.

Now I may cracked out all my graded cards and start putting them in the binders since I am not going to sell them.

[wdwfan]

Wanted to throw my nickel's worth of 2 cents into the fray.

I just put my entire 1958 Topps set into penny sleeves and into binder. I used the Ultra Pro Premium penny sleeves, and the fit was a little snug on the card. But they slid perfectly into the pages each time. Never any crimping or messing up. I wanted to use penny sleeves so I can put the BV on the back of each card.
I also used the Ultra Pro Platinum pages, and everything worked just great.

I've already picked up the sleeves for my 1957 Topps set, and I've got the pages ready. As soon as I get this big lot I've got coming in and get them into their spot in the set, I'l put them into sleeves and into a notebook.

[homerunderby]

Got all my Yankees in binders...cdw albums never UltiPro...I leave spaces for all the cards I don't have yet.

Got several Gothic Cabinet Craft bookcases to hold them, added a made to order bookcase from a small business here in San Francisco and it looks great. You just can't use Ikea or big box store bookcases, they aren't strong enough for these heavy binders.

Something about looking at those rows of binders (over 100) and thinking about all the work and care that went into getting all those cards.