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cnangle
Posts: 1,127
Joined: Nov 2011
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 10:20 AM | |
Early this summer I realized that my collection was growing beyond control. I had a small unfinished space in my basement so I decided to build a room to house my collection. The room is done but I still need to build shelves and cabinents to house my storage boxes and binders; plus I want to display some of my cards. As I was looking for ideas on-line, I thought it would be interesting to see how TCDB members store their collections.
Here's how mine looks right now in its temporary condition. I sort and store by manufacturer/year. I find that it makes retrieving cards for trades much easier. My personal collection is in binders sorted numerically by set. What does yours look like?
Let the storage war begin.
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My two-cents is worth slightly more than a penny. -- Chad --
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sahal694
Posts: 1,075
Joined: May 2016
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 10:34 AM | |
I have all the cards in my collection stored in 3200 count BCW boxes. I used to collect when I was a child, but most of those cards ended up getting thrown away except for a small binder of cards I kept. I started collecting again in the beginning of 2016. Being so, I only have about 6000 cards in my collection. I have one 3200 count box for basketball filled up, and a second box for basketball about halfway full. I then have one 3200 count box for baseball which also has nearly a half left of room.
These three boxes are just kept on a shelf in my closet and my duplicates are just stacked up in a shoebox. I also purchased a lot of BCW foam monster pads to put in any incomplete rows in the 3200 count boxes. These keep the cards packed nicely and prevent them from falling over or having to lean them at an angle. The pads cost about 8 dollars off ebay and I got a bunch of them. When I want to go through my cards, look at them, scan them etc, I use an index card cut to size to mark my place in the box when I take cards out so nothing gets out of order.
I used to use pages and binders, but the cost of them and the space they take made me change that. I then moved to boxes but at first I was using toploaders for all my insert cards and notable rookie cards. In a conversation I had with Billy on this site, I found out he stores just about all of his cards strictly in boxes without toploaders.
I decided to give that storage method a try and I haven't looked back. I am able to spend my money on actual cards instead of buying storage supplies. Next time I need a new 3200 count box, I can just go to the card shop and get one for a couple bucks and that's it. I was worried about card condition at first with just having cards in a box without protection, but I haven't noticed any damage to my cards at all since I scrapped all the plastic. I only use storage supplies now for shipping trades.
I have my cards organized in the boxes by year and set. I made sure to match all the base sets, inserts and parallels to how the TCDB lists them under "sets" in my collection so I can easily use this site to reference and find any card fast. For instance, I used to have parallels organized by themselves right behind the base set, but this site mixes them in with the inserts alphabetically.
Edited on: Sep 20, 2017 - 10:47AM -------------------------------
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RoundtheDiamond87
Posts: 808
Joined: Oct 2015
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 4:26 PM | |
1" binders stored 12-13 per copy paper box. If you want to display, just turn upright like a shelf.
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IfbBirdsCards
Posts: 836
Joined: Aug 2017
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 5:04 PM | |
Sorry about the huge post. I also have a few sets/unopened boxes and auto/relics not pictured.
Collection (Sorted and partially catalogued)
Collection (Unsorted and Catalogued)
For Sale/Trade (Sorted, partially catalogued)
For Sale/Trade (Unsorted and Uncatalogued)
Edited on: Sep 20, 2017 - 5:07PM -------------------------------
#2 Bowie Baysox, #12 Trey Mancini, & #3 Austin Wynns collector on the site. Also expanding my hockey, MMA, and Hofstra alumni collection. Collecting cards since 2011 (Age 8). -Ian
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muskie027
Posts: 692
Joined: Apr 2016
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 7:19 PM | |
My favorite topic. I feel like this should be brought up every couple months to see how storage evolves, because I feel like this is a struggle for anyone whose collection just grows. I have been trying to think of something innovative since I got back in 3 years ago. I now have a pile of boxes growing and it is making me angry as well as makes me question the point of the collection since it all ends up in a cardboard box pile. Binders seem like an expensive way that take up a lot of space, but I like the thought of seeing the cards. I look forward to seeing what people have been doing. The pictures are a nice touch.
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ranfordfan
Posts: 4,975
Joined: Jun 2014
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 9:19 PM | |
My collection is almost identical to what you have pictures except mine is in my daughter's closet!!! GLEEP =/ .............. I had begun making my old workbench and work area in basement mech room into a storage area for both my cards AND comics then my daughter (17) felt it neccesary to fill it with boxes uopn boxes of stuff she inherited from a cousin who was moving in with her boyfriend. So not only do I not get too my storage in the bedroom (all teenage gils live like animals!!) I can not move it to my new area (did I say they live like animals). The life of parents LOL .... I will miss her when she goes to university next year, and it will cost me money out the wazoo but hey I'll get her bedroom all to myself for storage space. Hehehe
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obxyankeefan
Posts: 753
Joined: Aug 2017
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 9:40 PM | |
When my collection got to big for the area I keep it in, I ended up taking most of the binders and compressing them down as much as I could.
Anything not in the main sets I collect and not a complete set went into Binders I called Randoms. Each Random binder would get 100 pages or room for 900 cards and I would put anything that does not meet the two criteries I mentioned and put them in there. Then those binders once full go into plastic bins that get stacked in the closet. The Topps binders are all out in bookcases with each odd year having a black binder and the even years having blue/gray binders.
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Billy Kingsley
Posts: 7,510
Joined: Aug 2011
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017 10:44 PM | |
I've posted this photo before. This was taken a while ago, now.
I have redone the storage spot where they are now.
the boxes with the short end facing out have all been scanned already. The boxes with the long end facing out, in front, are what were waiting to be scanned around February or so, whenever I took this. Don't remember exactly. The small boxes on the left and some of the waiting to be scanned, as well as the two large boxes near the top, (under the four long boxes which are at an odd angle, they were empty then) are cards I set aside because they were already posted here, and I will do them for my own website when I finish doing all the cards that I need to post here. Eventually my entire collection will be scanned, but it's still years away. I hit the halfway point on my NBA collection earlier this year or late last year...I don't know the exact date I crossed halfway, but I'm probably around 55% now...just a guess. Maybe more. Probably not less.
I will NEVER put a card into a binder page...I have personally seen the pages attack cards in my own collection. Ultra-Pro, not cheap stuff. When I realized the pages were attacking the UV coating I took them all out, with the exception of the "tall boys" and the 1976-77 Topps set, which I really should get out of the pages they came in, which are turning yellow and sticky. I just have nowhere better to store them and am playing a balancing act of trying to keep them from getting banged up, but also keep the pages from attacking them.
I have also seen a penny sleeve attack cards on several occasions, but I will use them from time to time. Some of the plastic cards can get very greasy and sticky and I have had them attack normal cardboard, so some of the plastic ones go into a penny sleeve. Of the 150,000+ cards in my collection, probably less than 100 reside in penny sleeves.
I do not use toploaders, ever. I keep the ones I get...usually, unless they are scuzzy...for sending out trades. That is the only use I have for them. So-called Cardsavers get tossed usually instantly. I keep a couple around that are in pristene shape because sometimes there will be a card too tall for a toploader but fits in there. I think I've used them for mailing once in 17 years of online trading.
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VERY slow trading due to health problems. Not transferrable so safe to trade with, just moving is painful and can't always access the cards. Cardboard History My COMC New Collection Website: Cardboard History Gallery (Still under construction) Tips on how to make your scans look like the card does in hand (No more washed out, fuzzy scans!):
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CollectingAfterDeath
Posts: 1,219
Joined: Jun 2016
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Thursday, September 21, 2017 5:36 AM | |
Edited on: Aug 16, 2020 - 6:11AM
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cnangle
Posts: 1,127
Joined: Nov 2011
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Thursday, September 21, 2017 7:14 AM | |
I was feeling intimidated by the amount of work I had to do sorting and catologing cards but it looks like Billy has much more work than I do. I have about 30k cards to go which I hope to get done by Christmas. If I would stop buying collections at antique stores I could probably catch up. I just can't help myself. I'm a "junk-wax' junkie. Joshua - I'm not insulting junk-wax - it is my second favorite era to collect ; )
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My two-cents is worth slightly more than a penny. -- Chad --
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