Just a thought, but how about putting the protector on upside sown, so that the closed edge is on top. That would protect the top edge of the card!
Au Res.,
Paul

Hi! I actually do use the Ultra-pro 1 screw downs. One of the main reasons I picked it was because it stated it was archival safe. I've placed cards in non ultra-pro card protectors that do not state it and I've had really bad color changes on them.

I do admit that the 1-screw downs take up space but I personally think it would protect them better. When I've placed cards in 9 pocket sleeves and in binders I've noticed that sometimes if you are not careful the binder rings can dent the card that it is nearest to it. As to toploaders... lets just say one time I was not very careful and a binder was put on top of one and the card got wrinkled...

So if you do not intend to take the autograph out (screw downs ARE hard to take out and virtually impossible to unscrew intact) I believe that it would protect your more collectible cards better then anything else.

I keep my higher end auto's and such in penny sleeve/top loader/team bag protection. They make thick top loaders which hold most costume cards okay but will pose problems for some of the thicker cards (I couldn't get X-men Wolverine in to save my life while the others all slid in great). I used to have a lot in screw downs but they take up a lot of room and have their flaws. My Sabrina auto's for some reason seem aren't cut right and wouldn't fit in a screw down with a "hollow card" and other cards can be crushed by putting them in and trying to screw the card in tight--or worse, slip in your frustration and get a nice ding. Four screw holders are the devil, and I can't tell you how many misdrilled ones I pitched when using them, or how many cards would just slide out even when screwed together--with or without the hollow card. Another problem I've had and seen with other people cards is that over the long term some cards start to have weird little moisture problems in the screw downs (can't breathe?). Maybe change your supplies every year or so? Anyone else?--chris

I put most of my high end chase cards (autographs, sketch cards) in Ultra Pro Deck Protectors which I then put into top loaders. My only real worry is that since those Deck Protector sleeves are kinda tight that the actual autograph would stick to the sleeve...if you've ever gotten a picture signed with a paint marker and put it in a plastic sleeve (or behind another picture) you know what I mean.

As for costume cards, I was putting them inside Pro-Mold thick card one-screw cases, which worked fine until I got the CC6 thick card from Farscape Season 2 which is just a hair too thick to fit in one, so now I've got to decide to change to something else or hope someone makes extra-extra thick screw-downs.

Finally, I've noticed that with some of the autograph cards I've bought online, I occasionally get ones where the card is fine but the bright blue of the sharpie ink used to sign has faded to a kind of aqua (or possibly teal) color. I'm guessing this is from exposure to light. I keep my cards together in a cardboard box and occasionally take them out to adore them.

Take care,
-Bob-

Wow! Finally, a topic that I've been dying to ask but felt too timid.....

I'm a newbie collector to trading cards, but an old, old comic book collector; have been up to my armpits in mylar baggies....

So when I got my first bunch of Stargate cards, I dropped by my local card shop which sells sports cards and CCG's and toys. I got some good advice and headed straight to the Ultra Pro products. I put my cards in 9-pocket or 6-pocket pages in binders. The inserts and autograph cards are in soft sleeves. The thick lenticular cards are in "snap/lock" plastic cases. The spare cards are in plastic cases or cardboard card boxes. And my Richard Dean Anderson autograph card is in a screw-down case on my bedside night table .

My little dilemma is "should I put all of my common cards in soft sleeves before I put them into my 9-pocket pages"? But I don't lose sleep over that. And I'm careful to buy binders with D-rings to avoid the cards getting crushed by the ring of the binder. I purchase white binders from my local stationery shop. The binders have clear pockets on the front, back and side so I can slip in scanned pictures of my favourite cards or the wrappers. I have one-page plastic protectors for my sell sheets and collapsed boxes and other memoribilia which I add to the binder.

[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: xst ]

[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: xst ]

Some good ideas here. I don't think we should have to put cards in sleeves before putting them in the 9 card sheets. As long as we use Ultra-Pro sheets, since I've had some problems with other brands. The dead give-away is a strong plastic smell from these sheets.
The D-ring binders is important too. Most binders made for sets by Inkworks and Rittenhouse don't have the D-rings... that's something we should go back to. Some autographs I keep in 9 card pages,Wild Wild West from Rittenhouse, I have a whole page of them and it looks really cool. Most autographs I keep in a sleeve inside a top loader, but the little wrinkles from the sleeve bother me.
I have many sets in plastic boxes too, but one of the problems with this is cards from the 90's had a plastic-like shiny coating. If left for long periods of time, the cards fuse together into a solid brick. Comic Images cards stick together really well.

Great point about the cards fusing into a big brick, I've wondered if some of the card front finishes chemically just melt or fail to dry and cause the little "moisture" problem I mentioned with the screw downs, since they might be trying to stick to the screw down in spots the way that they would stick to the other cards in the pack? (I've no idea)--chris

For cards going into binders, they first go into Ultra-Pro sleeves then into Ultra-Pro binder pages. For chase and autographs, they go into Ultra-Pro sleeves which go into Ultra-Pro Top Loaders then into Re-sealable Team Bags. For Wide-Vision cards, same proceedure applies, except Team Bag gets put on each end (if using standard size). this was prior to my requests for the company to make Wide-Vision length Team Bags. Now I can use just one of those. For thicker cards such as costume, lenticular, etc, the card gets placed into a Snap-Tite which is then place into a Re-sealable Team Bag. This way the Snap-Tite stays closed and if droped or scratched, it can be easily replaced with another (inexpensive) Team Bag.

Hey, thanks Watcher! I'll look out for the Re-sealable Team Bags.

I was mad about the "fused brick of cards". I found that happened to a bunch of Star Trek TNG cards. When I opened the packs and tried to "separate" the cards to a sickly "squish/rrrriiiiippppp"-sound my heart almost stopped. Most of the time it was OK, but when there was an embossed insert card in the middle of the bunch, the embossed parts lost little bits of colour..... boohoohoo! No longer "mint" straight from the pack! My Latinum Profiles picture of Worf has bits of silver "missing" from his nose and cheeks!

Oh.... and I have a set of Stargate AU promo cards in soft sleeve in a 9-pocket page stuck to my refrigerator with some fridge magnets! Why should they be sitting inside a stuffy binder? They look terrific!

[ 02-22-2002: Message edited by: xst ]

I was going to mention that DS9 Profiles is bad for sticking, mostly cause it's reallly hard on the latnium cards. Although I would love to open some boxes and stock up on the latnium card, it would have to be a realllllly food price for me to do it right now.

xst: Great idea with the 9-page sheets and fridge magnets.

BTW, you should be able to find the re-sealable team bags in more sports shops in addition to your hobby shops. I usually see them for about US$2 (Canadian$3.19) for a pack of 100. Many places offer a discount if you buy 3-5 or more. The price then drops to about US$1-$1.50 (Canadian $1.59-$2.39) per 100-pack. I usually pick up about 10-20 100-packs at a time since they're so inexpensive, but protect for a long time.
I have found other uses for the Ultra-Pro sleeves as well as the Top loaders and re-sealable Team Bags. I use the Ultra-Pro sleeves on my credit & bank cards before I store them in my ID card holders to protect the magnetic strips. I also place photos in sleeves-->top loader-->re-sealable team bag, then send to someone or prop it up with a piece of cardboard or paper clip.
I place my work ID in the Ultra-Pro sleeves as well. My Magnetic ID then takes less abuse from all that daily swiping. And when the sleeve is worn, it get changed (4¢ fix). My photo ID is in a Ultra-Pro sleeve-->Top loader-->re-sealable team bag. This protects it from the elements and wear/tear. My co-workers who have to keep getting replacement ID's & swipe cards regularly as seeing the sense in what I do with my ID's and have asked me to equip their ID's accordingly as well.
The reason I use Ultra-Pros (~4¢ ea) vs generic sleeves (~1¢ea) is the thicker protectiveness and ability to withstand wear & tear. Also I know my cards won't be damaged from chemicals seaping in from the cheaper sleeves. For the cost conscious, Ultra-Pro now makes the thinner (regular) sleeves for about the same price as the generic brands. However, you'll know that your cards are in good hands.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TR:
When I've placed cards in 9 pocket sleeves and in binders I've noticed that sometimes if you are not careful the binder rings can dent the card that it is nearest to it. As to toploaders... lets just say one time I was not very careful and a binder was put on top of one and the card got wrinkled...

---

That's happened to me too, unfortunately! Luckily, the cards were regulars and not special ones! How do you protect those "back pages" of binders without spending any money on buying extras?

For my autographs I use screwdowns. They also make em with a molded stand for display. You can easily put 15 to 20 autographs on a shelf. When I send for autograph requests I make two pictures. One the size of a trading card and one the size of a CD case. If the star replies I bought a bunch of those thin CD cases and I display my autograph in that. I can store them safely in a CD carry case. 8X10s are too big and only it takes a few to fill up your display space. I buy those premade 10 page (90 pocket)books for my sets. They store nicer than notebooks because they are flat and no rings to worry about. Downside is you have to buy a bunch of em. Also some are higher quality then others make sure the top rows do not leave a portion of your card exposed. I also dont like when a page gives my card that wet, stuck look. Im no expert but this cant be good.

How do you store cards, that come in a sealed toploader (like RA's 6 case incentive auto from BSG... not that I have it... )?

Do you open the seal and store the card in a sleeve / binder / screwdown? Or do you leave the seal intact? Are there special sleeves to archive a toploader in a binder?

quote:

Originally posted by Soul-on-Fire:
How do you store cards, that come in a sealed toploader (like RA's 6 case incentive auto from BSG... not that I have it... )?

Do you open the seal and store the card in a sleeve / binder / screwdown? Or do you leave the seal intact? Are there special sleeves to archive a toploader in a binder?

Well I am of the disposition that I tear off the gold seals on these incentive cards and put the card in a sleeve and put it in a binder with all the rest... where they belong!

However some people like to keep them in the sealed toploader because that is how it came from the manufacturer. For these people there are 4-card sheets to put in a binder.

It is important to note that although you may want to keep your card in the original toploader they are not archival safe as the toploaders are a means of safe transportation which are meant to be disgarded upon arrival (as stated by manufacturer). So if you leave them sealed without sleeves your cards may degrade over time...

I have yet to do this with mine, but I will be soon as I reorganize things

slit open the seal, put the card in a slip sleeve, put the card BACK in the top loader, put the top loader in a team bag & seal it up, then put it in a 4 pocket sheet with the rest of the autographs/costumes/sketches from that set.

I've now started to shift all my master sets (autos and all) into factory binders when possible. I always use Ultra Pro pages, and even for the more expensive cards, use the archival deck protector sleeves rather than the typical penny sleeves before putting into the sheets. Two, Three, Four, Six, or One Pocket pages are used for odds & ends like sell sheets, packs, boxes, or incentives.

Nothing looks and feels like flipping through your fully assembled master set in their glory.

I keep store the binders in banker boxes out of the light, but within reach.

I use to lock away all the expensive cards in screw downs in a hidden box (theoretically to grab and throw out the window in case of fire ), but they weren't properly being appreciated and difficult to get to.

quote:

Originally posted by raywoo888:
I keep store the binders in banker boxes out of the light, but within reach.

What are banker boxes raywoo?

quote:

Originally posted by Redemption:
What are banker boxes raywoo?

They're a specific type of storage boxes you can buy at any office supply store. Most of them will store both legal and letter size files.