Card Storage Question (Binder or individual sleeve)

[dbarbos1]

Alright, so here is my dilemma.
I have hundreds on TTM/IP autographed cards, as of now I havr them all in a metal box, all in individual thick plastic sleeves. I hate it, the box is like 50 pounds, and I am running out of room in the box for my new autographs. Also, I am getting sick of buying the plastic sleeves. So, I am wondering if it is a good idea to get a thick binder, and the 9 card sleeve page things, and just put the autographed cards in there. Is that safe for them, and then what do I do with the hundreds of unused plastic sleeves?
Let me know how you guys store your autographed cards.
All help is thanked.
-Danny

 

[majdic2136]

i bought a thick binder and store them in 9 card sleeves

 

[mrmopar]

I have a similar issue, but in a much larger scale.

There really is no good answer in my case. Right now I keep all my autographed cards in hard cases (toploads, screwdowns, magnetic cases, etc) and then in the three row super shoe boxes. I can't really use 9 pocket pages because I have a lot of 50s cards that are oversized and many undersized cards that wouldn't fit too well either. I want to keep them together, alphabetically, so using 9 pocket and various other different #'d pocket sheets is out, because then they would be out of order.

However, like you stated, the boxes are heavy and bulky. I have spent WAY too much on toploaders already and every batch of auto'd cards I add just adds to the cost, bulk and weight and the super shoe boxes are taking up a lot of room. The sheets alone would be a major expense if I went that route, although I could just stick other cards into the vacant toploaders so I wouldn't lose the money invested into those, but then I have the same problem all over with different cards.

In a perfect world, I would have mine in binders to view and store easier.

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

i am actually struggling with this same issue. I have my dodger autos scattered between pages alphabetically and the graded and top loaders in another box, not alphabetized. so if im looking for a particular card it could be in one of a couple of places. so, im trying to decide how best to organize my autos.

ive asked this same question on a different trading site and 99.9% of the people who responded said the same thing, that they store all their autographs in a penny sleeve, then top loader , then in a three row super shoe box.

i see both sides of the coin here. first, the top loaders i think offer better protection and can easily be organized in alphabetical order in a 3 row shoe box. all my cards(regular, graded, cards from the 1950's, etc) will all be in one location, however, looking at all of them would have to be one card at a time.

in albums, my cards can be easily organized alphabetically and viewing them is very easy as i can look at 9 cards at a time (9 cards per page) it really is great for looking at your collection however, all my graded cards and vintage 1950;s cards cannot fit into albums and must be stored seperatley, and the biggest problems i had/have with albums is the protection it provides, which for me is not very good. i read somewhere that you should not store albums upright and must lay them flat, so i did, and the weight of the albums on top of each other somehow crumbled one of the pages in my hof auto album and my roberto alomar auto was damaged as the card was severely creased where my only option is to now throw it out. my george brett and ernie banks autos just barely missed being damaged. so now im faced with the same dilemma on how to store my autos. do i go for easy viewing of my cards, or better protection, but harder to view. because of the incident with my roberto alomar auto, i am strongly leaning toward putting my card in a penny sleeve, then top loader then a 3 row super shoe box in alphabetical order.

just my 2 cents worth, would love to hear others opinions and advice.

 

[DMBfan]

I store all of my autographed cards in 9 pocket pages in albums. I have a shelf in my "hobby" closet dedicated to laying the binders flat so that cards don't get damaged. I have about a dozen or so different binders, as I have a few different collections going right now (general baseball card autographs, general baseball photo autographs, UNC baseball autographs, Mets autographs, HOF autographs). It's a great way for me to store and protect my collection, while being able to easily view and enjoy my collection. I'm in the process of trying to thin out my non-autograph collection and get rid of boxes. Because of this, placing my autographs in top loaders and then into boxes just isn't appealing to me.

 

[dbarbos1]

Thank you all for your input.
I seem to be in the same boat as mrmopar, because if I put the cards in a binder, I will have hundreds of useless toploaders stacked about.
I think I will separate out my collection, and put some in binders, and keep the rarer cards in the toploaders.
Thanks again everyone!

 

[YankeeFanatic98]

Definately go with the binder! My friend uses binders and it keeps them safe. Just use your other plastic sleeves for sending the cards out.

 

[mrmopar]

I am not sure how storing a binder vertically would ruin cards. I do know that with my larger pages, if I put something heavier in them, they do sag and curl at the bottom a little and that might possibly allow the bottom of something to get "stepped on" because it is sagging below the lower edge of the binder. However, I have not seen that with 9 pocket pages. I have never really used those in an quantity though once I really got into cards. Binders are good for a small collection, but eventually they can get very pricey when you are buying 1000s of pages and 100s of binders.

 

[greyminis]

I like the 9-sleeve, but not the binder. I use 12x18 boxes and I can put the sheets side by side.

 

[Ellis Shoe]

I buy heavy card stock, and put my oddball sized stuff such as signed tickets, ICs, etc on there with photo corners. I then place this sheet in a plastic sheet protector and then put it in my binder with the rest of my collection. As for cards in general, yes I went to the binder and page method and really like it so far.

 

[dbarbos1]

I buy heavy card stock, and put my oddball sized stuff such as signed tickets, ICs, etc on there with photo corners. I then place this sheet in a plastic sheet protector and then put it in my binder with the rest of my collection. As for cards in general, yes I went to the binder and page method and really like it so far.

The heavy card stock will work well. That was a good idea.
I have started putting all of my Retired guys autographs in binders, and I am pleased with it.
Thanks,

 

[Ellis Shoe]

Yeah, I hope you like it as much as I do. I use card stock with photo corners in a binder for getting autos at minor league games, so when I was trying to figure out what to do with the stubs and ICs, that just clicked. It looks good too in my opinion. Good luck with your storage system!