Was wondering if anyone collects non-sports card binders? I have noticed that some of the older ones I am looking for are not easy to find. And with hot popular ones like Walking Dead series 1 (yes I know I'm a bit late) I see the price has gone up on the few that are listed for sale.

So I was thinking if anyone buys binders of sets they might plan to collect in the future? Or if it makes sense to just collect binders?

There's no wrong way to collect. If you like something and it makes you happy, collect it.

Like everything, some binders are just tough to find after release. But the vast majority are still available for about the same price as they released many months after.

For every Walking Dead, there is a Spirit binder out there to balance the scale.

Ed

I like to collect the binder and base set to start off my collecting. Sadly the price rise of postage has really damaged this as the postage is often higher than the price of the binder now.

Most binders retain their price, but there are a few rare ones that are very expensive. The last Charmed season 1 i saw went for £150, red dwarf leather binder and serenity spring to mind as well.

For us in the U.K. the shipping charges are getting silly, it's making the binders very expensive considering what they sell for in the U.S. on release.

At present I'm going for binders but it is one of the things I'll have to start to think more closely about as shipping increases ever more.

I've got lots of binders. I love 'em.

I love binders too. I collect them for the sets I collect. Just like promos. If I am collecting the set, I go for promos and binders. If I am not, then I pass on those.

There is one binder I can't find, as far as I know it is the only one I am missing: Ultraverse I binder.

Does anybody know if it really exists?

Thanks,
David

I love binders. I collect from set to set. Have all 7 Smallville Binders. Have 2 of the Alias binders with 2 sets in each binder. Star Trek Deep Space 9 rittenhouse binder holds three different skybox sets and a rittenhouse set.
I have a feeling that my one Big Bang Theory Binder is going to hold many Big Bang sets. It still has a lot of room.

It is a shame about the cost to get them outside the US too.

I collect the binders for sets I collect too. My favs would have to be my Firefly and Serenity binders, which I handle with the utmost care because those lovely padded Inkworks binders have the tendency to split.

But I have to agree with the other non US people, postage price is starting to be a huge hindrance in buying them, and I'm even starting to rethink that I don't need every binder for every set I collect.

I must also add that space, or the lack of it, is also a big problem for me.

I do like the binder for any set I am collecting but space is an issue and postage will mean me using one binder for 2 sets just to keep costs down

Before I was better informed, I used to have my collection standing up. Disaster happened with two of my binders - Stargate and Babylon 5. Both of these were double sized binders and the weight of the cards broke the holding rivets. Very rare binders now, can't see me ever replacing them for anywhere near a reasonable price

Hi! I'm a collector from Italy. I registered a lot of time ago, but I never posted.
Now I'm back with collecting cards!
In Italy very few people collect USA cards because it's not easy to find them in some shops and shipping costs are very high.
Anyway, I'm one of them.
I collect very few sets, mainly Marvel and Star Trek. When I can find them, I'd like to complete my sets with binder and promos too.

There are 3 binders I can't find (but I really want them):
Marvel Universe 2
Marvel Universe 3
X-Men 1992 - Jim Lee.

If anyone see them, please let me know!!

Ciao to all!

Yeah, I'm beginning to look into the binders for past sets. While fun, I'm seeing how the prices add up rather quickly. And some of them are hard to find too, makes me wish I had gotten them when they first came out.

Has anybody seen a DC 'Bloodlines' (Skybox) binder in the recent past? I believe it was a QVC exclusive.

I remember when the first non-sports binders were issued in the early 1990's.
Back then, I definitely considered them a waste of money, since you could nicely store your cards in an UltraPro binder for around $5 instead of the $15 or even $20 the original binders cost (you could practically get another box of cards for that back then!).

And not only were generic UltraPro binders much cheaper, but you could decorate them with graphics from the empty card box, a sell sheet, or one of the many trade ads found in the bevy on Non Sport mags on the racks back then, and we often did.

Even so, I've come to appreciate official binders them in later years. Inkworks and Rittenhouse have made a lot of really nice looking ones. Still, most of the ones I've purchased over the years, I usually only bought because they came with a bonus card, in some cases, a really cool bonus card like an exclusive autograph as was the case with the Twilight Zone binders, and FPG artist series binders.

A lot of Comic Images binders came with an uncut 6 card sheet. Many of them included enough UltraPro card pages to hold the full set of cards, with inserts. Comic Images probably made more binders for their cards sets than any other single company, although Rittenhouse will certainly pass them someday, if they haven't already.

The Simpsons Downunder Binders from Tempo Australia, released in 1996, came with a special binder card that is now very rare. 1,000 binders were made, but only the first 500 had the card which is individually serial numbered. The binder itself is gorgeous, and I have 5 since I keep all of my Simpsons cards from the various sets in those. There was no official Simpson binder for the Topps or Skybox sets, and the one made for the 2nd series of Artbox Film Cards is hard to find. The two Inkworks made for their series are unfortunately flawed by the decision to have the outlines of Bart and Homer's heads extend above the top border edge where they can easily be damaged and serve no purpose other than as a decorative flourish. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. To that end, a few Inkworks binders actually had "O" rings instead of the preferred D-Rings. I also remember there were at least one or two official binders that had the 9 pocket card pages bound into them, which fine for the first few years, but from time to time, it's a good idea to replace pages, but impossible on those made that way. (I'll try to think of one, but I remember lamenting it, so it must be true!)

Older Topps binders, the ones from the early 1990's, didn't usually have a bonus card, but the Star Wars Widevision binder is an exception to that rule as it did have a card exclusive to the binder. Newer Topps binders, sold exclusively on their website, have included binder cards from time to time, and those are usually very collectible, because the binder production runs these days are certainly more limited than the ones made back in the 1990s, making the card equally limited.

I don't think Inkworks usually included bonus cards in their binders.

Artbox binders tended to include a packet of 2 or even 4 promo cards, the Harry Potter ones anyway. They often made convention exclusives of their binders and sold them in their legendary goodie bags.

Fleer/Skybox binders very rarely had any bonuses with them, but the 1995 Fleer Ultra X-Men binder did come with 3 Marvel Masterprints as a bonus.
The whole thing was shrinkwrapped with the Ultraprints teaser sticker and sold at KayBee toys for $11.99. That one, along with the Star Wars Widevision one, were among the first ones I bought. Both looked great and included a little something extra, a great formula, to be sure, and happily one that Crptozoic is following, with bonus cards in many of their binders, including exclusive costume and promo cards.

Breygent binders are classy affairs like everything they do, same goes for Rittenhouse, we're very lucky to have them.

Upper Deck unfortunately, doesn't really make binders with the exception of their Kree Skrull War cardboard cover mail-in, and the similar Marvel Masterpieces Return promo binder (more of a folder) from 2007 Comic-Con. Beautiful and limited, but flimsy with one 9 card page unfortunately bound into it, as are the pages of the Kree Skrull album (maybe those are the ones I was thinking of, that one and Upper Deck Looney Tunes Comic Ball. I think those are bound in pages, making replacement impossible.)
All of those from Upper Deck, probably best they stick to the cards, but binders for their Marvel movie sets and a Marvel Beginnings binder would all be good sellers for them, I would think. I wish they'd have made a Disney Treaures binder, one of my all-time favorite sets, and a mammoth 800 cards or so counting them all up, ideal for a fancy binder.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

I counted my binders. Not the generic ones, but the albums specifically issued for a card set - 190.

Wow! I sold about 50 different ones for a comic store that went out of business a few years ago, and probably have about 25 of my own.

What's the basic breakdown of the ones you have, i.e.
Skybox
Topps
Rittenhouse
Inkworks
etc. ?

Upper Deck actually made a Disney Treasures binder as an exclusive that was only available at a show in the UK back when the first series of Disney Treasures was released. A friend of mine was at the show and picked it up for me. Only 200 were made and I saw one on eBay go for $168.00 about 2 years ago. I will try to post a picture later today.

As for collecting binders, if I am working on a master set, I will always get the binder. I like the way they look and display the card set.

So which is the rarest and most exspensive binder then?

I'm going for Goldeneye or UFO.

Prices depend a lot on current interest in the subject too. I can remember back in the day how rare and expensive the older Buffy binders were, now they are way cheaper than they were.

Stargate also used to be a rare one, they still command a respectable price but not as much as once was.

Red Dwarf is a good shout too, I sold mine a few years ago for £50 and they are going for more than that now it seems.

I collect all of the binders I can find that go with my older Marvel sets! Right now I own the binders for 95 Fleer Spider-man, 95 Ultra X-men, and Marvel Metal. At some point I need to track down the following:

95 Marvel Flair
Marvel Universe I
Marvel Universe II
Marvel Universe III
X-Men 1992 (I've only seen it on eBay maybe once)

The older binders are definitely rarer, the 92 Marvel Universe binder had to be mailed off for if I recall. As for the Fleer binders, my only complaint is that they really made them too big for the sets. Even with all the parallel cards and prints and whatnot there's still some excessive space in my opinion.