If there is one universal thing to know about collecting sports cards, is to treat them as sacred pieces of parchment paper. Indeed, it is a proven fact that most veteran sports card collectors have many horror stories to tell of what to do and what not to do in respect on storing sports cards. Experienced sports memorabilia card collectors will never place cards in a damp attic or a beat up shoe box; this is now considered a cardinal sin in the eyes of the sports cards collecting community. The elements of time can destroy any precious keep-sake, especially sports cards. So, let’s delve into the possible scenarios of how not to murder your sports card collection.
#1 Storing sports cards in a three ring academic school binders. This is the fastest way to damage a sports card collection. Without a doubt, this is an honest mistake that many children and young collectors make in their early hobby education. Not only does this put extra weight on the sports cards, it also does not support the PVC pages properly from being torn and ripped at the outer edges, this will damage the corners and top of the sports card.
#2 Placing sports cards in shoe boxes for a long period of time. This is a sure way to ruin 95% of the cards surface, and will also cause the cards to crease and tear under the pressure of being pressed too firmly together.
#3 Pressing sports cards in top holders without an inner sleeve will damage the corners when trying to remove the card from the rigid holder.
#4 In addition to placing more than one card in a nine pocket page. Not only does the unwanted pressure press against the card that has already been placed in the designed sheet, it also makes it much more difficult to remove when wanting to view the sports card.
#5 Placing too many cards in one collector album causes undue stress on the binder/holder, in return, adding too much pressure for the binder to hold and contain the cards properly. For various reasons these three ring binders were only meant to handle the limit they were designed to hold. Adding too many pages in the three ring binders causes the sports cards to shift and move about when transporting the binder from one location to another, and also shifts the pages up and down while the binder is stationary.
#6 Placing sports cards directly or indirectly in the path of sunlight for any period of time, the UV light will damage the delicate properties of the paper.
#7 Storing a jersey card or any sports card in a screw down holder without inserting an inner sleeve will make the sports card stick to the holder. Once the card has been encased in the temporary holder – after several months, the paper and jersey material becomes a permanent part of the holder. It does not take much heat to completely destroy sports cards, remember, paper is a most fragile under any circumstances.
#8 The era of putting sports cards in bike spokes is a past history that will never return in this lifetime. Never place any sports cards in an area where young children play and congregate. Young children have no idea the value of sports cards.
#9 When viewing your sports cards make an honest and knowledgeable attempt not to touch the face of the card, and be extra careful never to touch the corners of the card. This may sound like a trivial statement; doing this one simple thing can ensure and protect the life of the card.
#10 The last of the cardinal sins that a presumed collector should never do. If there are smears or blemishes on the face of the sports card, never make an attempt to remove these imperfections. Never store sport cards in three ring binders shoved or placed in-between heavy books or any bulky or weighty items.
