General Forum

I've got quite a few of these sheets from around 1988-1990. I first noticed their effect on some 1990 Skybox basketball cards becoming discolored as they were filed without penny sleeves. I'm assuming all I've got are that type and that it's not the safer updated versions. Here's the label from the middle edge:

My question is: Are these safe to keep cards in while in penny sleeves, or do they still get damaged over time despite the protection of the sleeve?

THe penny sleeve probably acts as a protective barrier but if it were me, I'd throw out the old pages

I'm not familiar with old BCW pages, but I'm gonna agree with ketchupman here. If the pages are too old for me to guarantee safety, I'm ditching them. One thing not mentioned yet though, so I'll ask to give you more info. Are the pages IN ANY WAY "sticky or slimy"? If you say YES to either, trash them immediately! If you say NO, consult the rest of the members here. There are always extenuating circumstances when it comes to card storage.

I've been warning people for two decades next year that pages are not safe for cards. Nobody listens. I'm usually met with derision and snide remarks...but it's true. 

The chemical compounds used in the plastic to make it pliable are not inert, can never be inert. And therefore they are not safe for archival storage.

C'mon Billy! We've talked about this several times before. I keep most of my cards in pages and I have for about 30 years now. The only issues I've had are with cheap pages or those with coatings that later become sticky or slimy. Ultra Pro pages have NEVER been an issue for me. All of my problems with pages were "sticky", "slimy", and the dot-border instead of a seam-border.

All of my cards that have been in Ultra Pro Platinum pages have been perfectly safe for the past 20+ years!

Spaz, I've never encountered any slime, and even before posting this I did a quick perusal as I removed them from binders and found none. in fact, even the cards that I discovered to be discolored years ago didn't show signs of any sort of sticky residue to my recollection. Once I discovered that I put all the cards in sleeves and just recently began emptying them to do my collection inventory. I'm at the point now where I've run out of the Ultra Pros that I bought at Walmart and still need at least another hundred to put the cards in binders. The BCW sheets are rather stiff, but I don't recall if they are stiffer than when first purchased. Some seem to have yellowed. 

I used to use BCW when I started collecting. Now in process of switching all to Ultra Pro, because many of the BCW pages have become oily, sticky and sometimes slimey. I have cards in BCW pages that are difficult to remove because of some type of breakdown. As I periodically go through my books, I check the Ultra Pro/s and have noticed none of those issues. i have boxes of BCw that haven't gone too bad, thought I could sell, but end up sending to trash.

I have some old BCW pages.  None of the cards have gotten sticky or oily, but the pages have gotten brittle, to the point where they may crack along the seams when trying to take cards out.  Just to be safe, I relegate those pages for sets that I wouldn't care if they got damaged (think ugly sets like 1990 Donruss, 91 Fleer, etc)

As for safety in using pages, I've used pages for over three decades and have never had cards damaged.  However, I have had cards stored in boxes that have noticeably yellowed over time.  Then again, they haven't always been stored in a perfectly climate controlled area (temperature, humidity, air quality, etc). YMMV, but baseball cards are just paper and will eventually break down anyway. 

pistonfan, I had to chuckle at, "baseball cards are just paper and will eventually break down anyway." I just hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime! Do you keep the cards in sleeves in the BCW pages?

Cards in  my possession have always been stored inside my home and never in a garage or attic.

I have to believe that there's more to this than simply the BCW T9 pages as it could really involve the card's makeup. I purchased a large lot a few months ago that included some Enor Sports Card Albums which have pages similar to the BCW pages in feel and thickness and they held cards from various eras including vintage '60s to modern '00s. I do recall some of the modern cards tending to stick on the corners, but came out with gentle tugs, nothing tough really. 

I don't keep them in sleeves, but I just keep late 80's to early 90's "junk wax" product in them.  If I had anything with any kind of glossy coating to them, I would probably consider sleeving them.