General Forum

I just received a set of these cards through an eBay sale. The set is in an 800 count box. Somehow all these cards are bowed, with the bow getting worst from one end of the set to the other. Each card increasing in bow from one end of the set to the other. Have you experienced this before and what do you feel caused it? Are the cards defective? The cards are in mint shape except for the bow. The worst case bow is 3/8", preventing the cards from lying flat. All the cards in this set have a bow. Would you keep them or send them back? What are your thoughts. FYI..I am a collector not an investor.

My cardboard Topps cards (thru 1991) do that every winter, and flatten back out in spring. I would keep them.

I'm probably going to show my age with this response, but here it goes anyway...

Alan Rosen (aka "Mr. Mint") would call that "vending curl" and tell you not to worry about it.
 

Maybe try packing the box with something (like a cut sponge, a piece of styrofoam, spacers, etc.) to meet the cards tighter.

It's very normal for the cards of that era to have a bit of an "arc" to them. That's actually a very good sign that they are in good shape.

Thank you for the replies. I enjoy this feedback and insight you are sharing.

Further thoughts:

I have allot of cards from this era and have not noticed this in a full set. In this set, I can push a card flat, but it pops right back with a bow. Maybe once I put them in a 9 sleeve binder the cards will eventually flatten. Sounds like I should keep them. I am a collector not an investor, so maybe this adds a bit more nostalgia to my collection. If someone mentions bowed cards from around 40 years old, I can show them a full set that has this uniqueness. Please let me know any further thoughts you have on this subject. I value your opinions. Should I keep these near mint cards, that are bowed up to 3/8". 

All of my Topps cards from the 70s and 80s are like this. It's not a rarity.

Normal as others have said. Cardboard will expand and contract when humidity changes. The pictured side is more protected and won't expand and contract at the same rate creating the curve.

 Maybe they should have kept the name BOWman.   But seriously,  that is normal.   Rest easy.    I have a 12 count case in which you can put stand  twelve 800 count boxes and there is some bowing.    I am not sure how they compare to ones I have store horizontally.   Possibly it is its own weight  that gives them only a slight bowing.

Like the previous replies, I will tell that is normal as well. What you can do to counter the bowing is place groups of 25 or 50 cards bow side facing each other. Long term it keeps the bowing down to a minimum. You could also do it on a card by card basis. I do this with my teams sets, but is a lot of work with a full set.

Scott

I would keep them and I'm a collector.  I think even an investor would keep them.  As one previous poster mentioned, it is almost a good sign to have them bowed like this.  I'm a collector also and I've been trying to collect 80's football cards from scratch.  I've been trading to complete each set and I started with zero cards.  It has been a lot of fun.  Bottom line, about 1/3 of the cards I receive are bowed which makes it interesting when I put them in a box as some will be bowed and others will not.  I think if you sheet them in binders they will eventually flatten out without damaging the card.

The thing to remember about sheeting cards and putting them in a binder is how you store the binder.  If the binder is upright, make sure the binder and pages are tight so they don't sag.  That would have more potential damage to the cards over time.  If you store your binders horizontal, this shouldn't be a problem but it makes it more difficult to pull a single binder out to look at the cards.