General Forum

TCDB Owners,

Sorry for bringing this back up but my reorganization has led me to a few major decisions.

1. Like everybody, I have my own special Collections: A's, Eagles, Fleer Stickers, Team Logos, Errors & Variations etc.

2. The way I have handled sets is probably a bit different than most. Up until now, I have pulled cards of rookies, stars etc [or had a dupe] and placed them in album pages for viewing enjoyment. Commons and lesser cards remained in set boxes. My criteria for being placed in the album pages was value. But now that is very variable and would mean annual swapping. I used to place cards over a $1 in album pages but that got overwhelming. Then I went to %s, the older the card the higher the % to  qualify for the album. Also a bit tricky.

3. So, as I reorganize I want to set a STANDARD for "making the album pages". Any and ALL ideas will be considered.....I'm looking forward to your suggestions.

Thanks, ~BOB~

TCDB is #1

These are my favorite types of postings.  I have tons of boxes and am very unhappy with my storage and display methods.  Really, I don't have one.  I eagerly look forward to replies because I love all ideas.  I'll have my note pad ready as people respond and hoepfully I can steal a great idea or two.  Storing and displaying cards is as much a part of the hobby as buying and sorting and I am anxious to develop a new method of my own to enhnace my enjoyment.

Thank you for your reply.

Now, all we need are a few ideas ~ suggestions to get us thinking.

Let's go my TCDB friends and send in your comments.

~BOB~

I had the same dilemma concerning card value in pages. I went from doubles $1+ in pages, to making a list of "stars" and taking all doubles regardless of value. Recently, I've noticed that the pages can bend in certain ways, pretty much warping the cards. I get paranoid about that - having seen it from older collectors at card shows. It makes me cringe. Now, I am using 5,000ct boxes with dividers. Of course they don't "display" as well, but I'm more concerned about condition. I just have to come up with a way to tell which cards are in the boxes, so every time I get "new doubles", I don't have to keep them aside and go through the box to see if I already have them in there. If this site allows us (at some point) to create separate lists or collections, I plan on cataloging them that way.

The other dilemma I have with the players is that there are so many up-and-comers and stars who have fallen off in the last couple years, that I feel like I need to constantly update that list. That's too time consuming, so I may just end up only adding players.

I'm always looking for different/better ideas myself. For me- the newer year sets i've been building i keep in boxes, just easier to store and hold more. 

I've just started with vintage not too long ago, them i keep in albums, except for the more expensive one's, i try to keep them in order in one box. I just think the presentation on them in an album makes it so much more appealing and more historic. 

For my high dollar cards and pricey RC's i also keep in boxes for now. I like to get to a point where i can have a display case and set them up in there. 

All my cards for sale and in one box, trade bait another box and all my Eli's and 5 boxes (and I've started to use a small piece of blue tape on the top of the top loader to signify a SN1 of "x", i'll be using yellow for auto's, and green or orange for SN's less than 10- i think it just makes it easier to find something.. I have a couple more 4 row boxes with my NY giants extras, Phillies extras and Flyers extra's.. I'm just all over the place when it comes

I am probably the wrong person to comment as I collect sets and put them in albums that way , some of my favorite cards to look at are commons . Anyway , putting them in albums by value , particularly when it comes to newer cards seems like it could be frustrating . What about putting them in each year by league leaders , award winners and top rookies . Once the season is over the leaders and award winners don't change like a value can . You may not end up with the most valueable cards in your albums but it would be a nice look at the history of each season . Anyway , good luck with whatever you choose .

Matt

Boxes, only boxes. Pages damage cards. I've seen it attack my own cards with my own eyes. That's not even counting if a page shifts and the binder rings damage cards, which I've seen that too. Not to mention the inevitable corner damage from catching on the page.

In theory mine will be sorted in chronological order of release in numerical order of each set, with each insert in alphabetical order, but each parallel in descending order of rarity. (One per pack comes before one per 10 packs with 1 of 1s at the end)

In reality mine have not been sorted in any form since 2004, (kind of sort of by letter, but not really) though it's one of my main goals to get them back together. I won't do that until I finish scanning everything though, and that's at least 5 years away.

I am almost identical to suomibear*, right down to the dividers. I have my older sets (first years of collecting in binders but my card shop explained the reasoning for boxes, storage plain and simple. I can store more cards in the same area using boxes vs. binders. I have my Ranford collection in binders so that I can look through it at any time, my oiler RC collection is on a huge wall display I made that holds each card in a RC sleeve. The rest is all in boxes.

I have two collections - (1) sets and (2) HoF / stars.  This is how I keep each one.

Sets -  One of every set older than 1981 is in an album in order by number.  Duplicate sets and most sets that are1981 or newer are in boxes. Exceptions:  All Kelloggs and Post sets are in an album of their own. Reasoning:  I wish to look at the older sets much more frequently than the newer sets; the albums make this an easier way.

Sets that I am trying to complete are either in boxes or in drawers (location is marked on my excel file).  As the set gets bigger, it is moved into an appropriate size box.  

HoF / Stars - Cards older than 1988 and higher value cards / inserts are in top loaders. Newer cards are in albums. I recently separated all of these into two "piles" - one of every card in one pile (boxes that hold top loaders or in albums) and all doubles+ in another pile for Trade (can be seen in my other ID, sandy's singles).

Organized this way, I can find almost every card I own within a matter of a minute, whether it is a card that I will keep in my collection or one for trade.

Alphabetically in Sleeves/Binders.

Helps with Dupes & to identify Errors.

Store Autos, Bat/Uniform, specialty cards in Metal Tins...