I was wondering how everybody stores there autograph cards I use a toploader and sleeve and was thinking about switching them to the ulta pro 1 screw down holders does anybody know of any problems with the screw down holders on autograph cards?

Thanks

I keep all my autos and costumes in Ultra-Pro sleeves.

One thing: I was speaking to a book conservator who works at the British Library the other day about using archival-quality Mylar sleeves for book jackets. He said that although they used to use these in the BL, they found that the sleeves created their own environment for the jackets, sometimes allowing moisture, etc., to get in. The BL now store their books in boxes - but this chap said that even this might create a micro environment for a book. They just don't know yet about the long-term effects.

From this, it would seem that sealing in cards very tightly in those screw-down cases could do a similar thing - and that even putting them in archival-quality pages could have detrimental effects!

Also, does anyone know about the life of trading cards? Apparently any book that has been published after the 1890s, using wood-chip paper, will have a high acid content, so that it will go yellow and eventually so brittle that it will crumble (am talking decades here). Does anyone know whether the paper trading cards are printed on is acid free, and what effect laminating the cards will have on the images? Could laminating the cards make them go yellow, even if they are not exposed to light? If such effects will happen, how soon after a card is published will this occur? Have cards, say, 50 years old or older, deteriorated even if kept in good conditions, e.g. out of the light?

Sorry about all the questions, but I wondered whether anyone here knew about all this (the card companies should).

Any help would be much appreciated.

(Perhaps an article in a future issue of NSU might be an idea?)

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Originally posted by Viola:
Also, does anyone know about the life of trading cards? . . . Have cards, say, 50 years old or older, deteriorated even if kept in good conditions, e.g. out of the light?

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I have tobacco cards from the late 1880s in which the board stock on which they were printed is still perfectly white. I have gum cards from the 1930's (Horrors of War, for example), whose paper stock is acidic, and the cards (otherwise in very nice condition) have started to yellow and turn brown.

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I have tobacco cards from the late 1880s in which the board stock on which they were printed is still perfectly white. I have gum cards from the 1930's (Horrors of War, for example), whose paper stock is acidic, and the cards (otherwise in very nice condition) have started to yellow and turn brown.
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Are your 1930s cards laminated? I wondered what effect laminating the cards has.

When it comes to books, they can be deacidified, although this is quite a violent treatment and only suitable for books that are in reasonably good condition and not too brittle. Deacidification also only arrests the process - it doesn't reverse it.

I wondered whether the same process could be applied to modern cards. It's just that some of these cards are sold for very high sums, so it would be good if their preservation could be ensured as much as possible. Keeping them in a dark environment, away from central heating, helps, but I believe that nothing actually stops the process (or perhaps I am wrong?).

Of course, if book (and card) manufacturers used hand-made papers like Japanese papers, this problem would not occur - it is all to do with the drive for profit . . .

No, my 1930's cards are not laminated. I can't imagine anyone taking cards and laminating them, although I suppose that stranger things have happened. They are on cheap paper stock, like much of the **** sold to kids then (comics, magazines, baseball cards, etc.)

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Of course, if book (and card) manufacturers used hand-made papers like Japanese papers, this problem would not occur - it is all to do with the drive for profit

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And profit is a bad thing? Without profit, companies go out of business and they stop making cards.

If companies made the cards out of the best possible card stock, used inks that were archivally stable, used paper coating technologies which did not degrade, then I suppose that cards would last years and years. But they would cost more, and you couldn't buy as many of them.

Trading cards are ephemera. Pop culture junk. They are fun for the moment, but there is little sense in manufacturing them to last for ages.

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posted September 24, 2004 11:43 AM
No, my 1930's cards are not laminated. I can't imagine anyone taking cards and laminating them, although I suppose that stranger things have happened. They are on cheap paper stock, like much of the **** sold to kids then (comics, magazines, baseball cards, etc.)
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I thought all the modern cards produced by companies were laminated - I stand corrected.

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And profit is a bad thing? Without profit, companies go out of business and they stop making cards.
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No, profit is not a bad thing - and I didn't say it was. I don't know much about the production of cards, hence my queries. However, I do know about books, and when one commonly pays £20 or more for a hardback novel in the U.K., one would expect a product that lasts more than a couple of decades.

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Trading cards are ephemera. Pop culture junk. They are fun for the moment, but there is little sense in manufacturing them to last for ages.
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I disagree. The cigarette cards produced in the 19th century, for example, are still VERY collectable (although I'm sure many people held similar views to yours at the time they were produced.) They are not ephemera to be discarded after a few years. Some of today's cards may well be junk - but others are not. They are often a statement about our times, our culture - developments in design and printing techniques, the genres people are interested in (which begs a lot of questions, for a start), and so on.

I think you and I have different definitions of "laminated". To me, the word means take a paper item, put it between two sheets of plastic, and heat the plastic until it fuses to the paper. (There are also plastic sheets with adhesive that can accomplish the same purpose).

Are you talking about the coatings on modern cards? They are more like a varnish or a clear paint -- some chemical applied in a liquid state, that dries/hardens into the shiny outer layer of a modern card. I have no idea what that does to the long-term stability of the paper stock.

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They are not ephemera

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Of course they are. They were printed advertising matter to promote the sales of the cigarettes. The fact that some have survived for a century in good shape doesn't change the fact that they weren't meant to be archival products.

The Ephemera Society of America calls ephemera
" printed matter of passing interest" and uses tobacco cards as a specific example.

I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your comment -- they have much value beyond their purpose. (I have a room full of ephemera). I just don't think the added cost of making them to archival standards is useful.

I would actually love to know how modern trading cards are produced, because on that would depend how they should best be stored. That's why it would be great if NSU had an article on the subject, and on the best methods of storage. From what other posters to this thread have said, I suspect that sealing cards in screw-down holders may not, after all, be such a good idea, and perhaps collectors could be informed of this if it is indeed the case.

OK - yes, of course I agree with you that trading cards are classified as ephemera. What I probably meant was that they should not be ephemeral. They are truly fascinating things, and you can learn so much about periods of history from these tiny products. Cigarette and tea cards in particular probably fulfilled valuable educational functions for children (not sure whether today's film-based cards can do that, although they do touch on various aspects of design).

I don't know how much more it would cost to make cards of archival quality - I mean, paper was once always of this quality. When it comes to books, for myself I feel it would be better to use good paper for them, to give them 'staying power', rather than spending the money on producing overtly flashy, unnecessarily large-sized products. But then that's just me - we do live in a throwaway society . . .

P.S. Also, if anyone has any info about the following, advice would be greatly appreciated:

1. 3-D cards. Will storing them in sleeves actually squash them too much, so that the 'lines' get compressed and the images are distorted? Are the sleeves produced by Artbox of archival quality, and do they need to be for 3-D cards?

2. I have had to store tiny cards - like the Polish Lays promo cards and Australian Pickers - in sleeves intended for coins. Are these of archival quality, suitable for cards? (I don't trust what the supplier told me.)

3. Some of my card binders are very full (I am trying not too buy many more because of space problems). Does storing cards like this compress them too much, and can it damage them?

I've tried to get answers to these questions here and there in the past, but no one seems to know . . .

I like to use the snap tights my self for my autograph storage becuase they are small like the card and you can put alot more together in storage boxes than you can when you put them in screw down holders. Looks like there are quite a few different types that people use. My opionion just go with what you like. That will give you the peace of mind when it comes to storing your auto cards.

My opionion just go with what you like. That will give you the peace of mind when it comes to storing your auto cards.
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Unfortunately it doesn't give me peace of mind, because I don't know what the best form of storage is, to keep the cards in the best condition possible. What I like may not be best for the cards.

It would be useful if the card companies did come up with some directives in this area - after all, some people are spending large amounts of money on their products. . .

Plus to the list above I would also query how best to store foil cards.

I use "Snap-Tite" holders. They protect the card well and stack nicely in shoe-box size trading card boxes for storage. Compared to screw-downs, they're less expensive and easier to work with. Screw-downs would probably be a better choice for ones you want to display or for more valuable autos where you want extra protection. I have not heard of any problems with them, although I have not used them myself.

Tom

As weird as it sounds, I don't use any toploaders or snap tights...except for one auto card I have in a toploader. I reallly like my cards in binders and not piles. I figure I'll regret it someday (shoulda been around here when I had to move my collection to the new place...the STRESS...the WORRY

Hi,
I keep my base sets and inserts(including extras) in pocket pages in binders. Extra base cards in boxes. I used to keep my sutos in the crew cases and the only problem I ever encountered was stripping the screw as I tried to close the darn case. Now I have this nifty wall hanging card holder that holds 200 cards in snap cases, I got it at Michaels craft store for aaround 20. 2 more autos to go and I'll need a new one.

Kristy

The only problem I've had with screw cases is that they take a lot of space! In fact I recently threw away 40-60 perfectly good screw cases that were sent to me protecting purchases that I couldn't get rid of -- I tried to give them away, but no one wanted them. In case you were wondering I keep my chase in a sleeve/top load combo.

On a side note -- be VERY careful hanging cards in your house as they will fade over time, some of them pretty quickly.

I just have my cardsin 9 pocket sheets - autos and other 'hig-value' cards are in a separate single sleeve. I don't have the space for rigid sleeves at the moment - besides, I like to keep the sets more or less together.

Lynne, I'll bite. Which card is the exception?

Au Res.,
Paul

First Contact Data ))
It could be argued a few of the TNG Profiles cards are less common, but that one is still the god to me )))

Very much regretting there isn't an 'Instant Graemlins' for jealosy...

Au Res.,
Paul

I file my autos in the binders with the rest of the cards. I do place them in a thick ultra pro sleave though.

Anybody use those deck protectors from ultrapro for their cards? I bought a bunch with the intent of using them for insert..I figured they could slide in the ultrapro pages and give more support (I was esp. worried about the sketchcards), but they are too flush with the top of the card meaning nothing is protecting the top edge and possibly even the two top corners..I was bummed ((( I thought it would be a good answer...