I sorted my cards both ways. I usually did teams early, then went to number order when I got a bunch of them. By 76, I was mostly doing number order only.
Hanging out at a dealers shop in the late 70's early 80's, I got to see a bunch of collections come in, A lot of the larger ones were in number order, middle sized ones were either in teams or no particular order. A bunch of those were basically just loose in a shoebox or worse, a paper bag. Small collections were the "best" either a complete disaster, or really nice, and usually in a cigar box. I got my first 4 George C Millers from one like that. Very nice stuff in a cigar box, but all of it very worn.
The large collections in number order were really rough on first and last cards whether they had rubber bands or not. Cheeseboxes were a bit rough on the inside, so not nice to surfaces. and whether you packed tight and scuffed/creased the card or packed lose and accepted the inevitable sliding that wore down one edge and the lower corners, it wasn't good.
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