First card in a set - any childhood stories?

[Bestdj777]

Hi all,

I've read numerous times how a card in this or that set (i.e. the 52 Pafko) is hard to find in high grade because it was the first card in many kids' rubber-banded stacks. To me, I just can't see a meaningful enough number of kids organizing and storing their sets in this fashion to make a difference. While it's not a theory that can be proven or disproven, I'm just curious whether anyone has any relevant childhood stories from the 50s and 60s.

Thanks,

Chris

[irv]

Originally Posted by Bestdj777

Hi all,

I've read numerous times how a card in this or that set (i.e. the 52 Pafko) is hard to find in high grade because it was the first card in many kids' rubber-banded stacks. To me, I just can't see a meaningful enough number of kids organizing and storing their sets in this fashion to make a difference. While it's not a theory that can be proven or disproven, I'm just curious whether anyone has any relevant childhood stories from the 50s and 60s.

Thanks,

Chris

Although I collected mostly in the 70's as a kid, I also used rubber bands to store my cards. I took them to school that way for trades and flips and wished I just left them all in those rubber bands instead of doing the flip thing!

[JollyElm]

Me and my brethren put the cards in teams and all the 'junk' cards (league leaders, playoffs, checklists, etc.) at the back. Sure, we used rubber bands, but they never hit card #1, they hit the A's or Angels team card.

[aelefson]

I am not sure how many kids did it, but it was a very common practice among dealers. Even into the early 2000s, there were at least two dealers at the Wilmington MA show that had most of their wares (all pre 1970 including prewar) in piles with elastics around them (usually sorted numerically for Topps). These piles included cards worth hundreds of dollars. It was much more common in the 70s and 80s. I would guess most dealer stopped the practice in the late 80s/early 90s as Copeland and other buyers were focusing on condition to a greater extent.

Alan

[nolemmings]

I used a card locker like this one on ebay--which I ordered through my mom's Harriet Carter mail-order gift catalog:


Mine was first used in 1968, and although the Ebay listing claims this to be from that year, you can tell from the inner doors that the expansion Royals and Pilots have been given slots, so it clearly was made in 1969. In mine those bottom slots were used for checklists, league leaders, etc., at least the first year. After that I used it for a few more years and did rubber-band the "misc" cards.

I popped the doors off almost immediately because it was otherwise difficult and sometimes damaging to remove the cards. Also, when a slot was full those notches you see that hold the slats would dig into the cards at the top--for me the team cards and managers.

As the new season began the old cards were put away in those boxes that held bank checks-- I had dozens of them--which in turn were put in larger boxes.

More to the OP's question, though, I never sorted them in numerical order and thus never would have had rubber band marks on card #1.

[HRBAKER]

Always sorted mine by teams in alpha order by league.

[Bcwcardz]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I used a card locker like this one on ebay--which I ordered through my mom's Harriet Carter mail-order gift catalog:


Mine was first used in 1968, and although the Ebay listing claims this to be from that year, you can tell from the inner doors that the expansion Royals and Pilots have been given slots, so it clearly was made in 1969. In mine those bottom slots were used for checklists, league leaders, etc., at least the first year. After that I used it for a few more years and did rubber-band the "misc" cards.

I popped the doors off almost immediately because it was otherwise difficult and sometimes damaging to remove the cards. Also, when a slot was full those notches you see that hold the slats would dig into the cards at the top--for me the team cards and managers.

As the new season began the old cards were put away in those boxes that held bank checks-- I had dozens of them--which in turn were put in larger boxes.

More to the OP's question, though, I never sorted them in numerical order and thus never would have had rubber band marks on card #1.

Here is something I used in the early 80s. Although mine is actually long gone I wish to purchase a clean one for sentimenatal reasons.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[RTK]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I used a card locker like this one on ebay--which I ordered through my mom's Harriet Carter mail-order gift catalog:


Mine was first used in 1968, and although the Ebay listing claims this to be from that year, you can tell from the inner doors that the expansion Royals and Pilots have been given slots, so it clearly was made in 1969. In mine those bottom slots were used for checklists, league leaders, etc., at least the first year. After that I used it for a few more years and did rubber-band the "misc" cards.

I popped the doors off almost immediately because it was otherwise difficult and sometimes damaging to remove the cards. Also, when a slot was full those notches you see that hold the slats would dig into the cards at the top--for me the team cards and managers.

As the new season began the old cards were put away in those boxes that held bank checks-- I had dozens of them--which in turn were put in larger boxes.

More to the OP's question, though, I never sorted them in numerical order and thus never would have had rubber band marks on card #1.

I still have my card locker, a couple vintage Cubs and Sox stickers on it, had them sorted by team, favorite players or coolest looking card on top. I recall the cards being difficult to get out of the locker. My overflow of cards were in a shoebox, all with rubber bands diagonally corner to corner.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

...Sure, we used rubber bands, but they never hit card #1, they hit the A's or Angels team card.

We used tacks and staples on all of our cards....and then to make sure we could identify all of our cards so they would not get mixed up, wrote our names in bold letters on the front.

Z

[rgpete]

I used cheese boxes that I got from the local Butcher in the early and mid 1970's
No rubber bands on my cards

[mikemb]

My cards were also kept in numerical order by series with a rubber band wrapped around them. However, once I got the checklist card, that always went on top.

Kept them in a shoebox. At sometime in the middle of the 7th series, grouped them by team with the team card on top, of course with a rubber band around them.

So, my checklist cards and team cards were the most damaged.

Still have them all today and they are priceless! My checklists I marked as an 8 to 14 year old are in a binder right next to their better condition cousins that were purchased years later.

Mike

[David W]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

We used tacks and staples on all of our cards....and then to make sure we could identify all of our cards so they would not get mixed up, wrote our names in bold letters on the front.

Z

Organized by teams in rubber bands inside any box close to the right size, but preferred writing on the back, like this......

[Troy Kirk]

I used to buy collections of cards from the 1960s and 1970s and they were almost always organized by team with rubber bands around each team. I don't think I ever bought a collection where the cards were organized by number.

I think the #1 cards are beat up because they were in the first series and first series cards were played with all summer whereas the higher series are usually less beat up because they were bought at the end of the season.

I have bought some complete sets of cigarette cards from England (usually 50-card sets) and often they put the #1 card behind the #2 card and have the set wrapped in a paper strip. Those small sets are always saved in numerical order and the #1 cards do get more wear in that type of set.

[Lueth2048]

From 1972 until about 1976 I used rubber bands and sorted by team. As the season went on the first card in each team's stack would be either the team card or, in the years that they were issued, the team checklist card.

[steve B]

When I started getting a lot of cards in 74 I ended up putting them in number order. Before I had about 300, I had them by team but stopped when it just got too hard to know which ones I needed since I didn't have all the team checklists. But the Aaron was relatively safe, since I didn't get it until after I got a binder and pages.

I've put them in number order ever since, with one in front and the last card at the back. Passed on a few junk era sets once when they were new because they were stacked with the last card in front and the first in back. It was too much of a nuisance to reverse an entire 700+ card set.

I haven't damaged any with rubber bands, but I have in other ways. I got a file cabinet that has shallow drawers and used it for cards. I had to put them in sideways, but it worked great. Except the screws that hold the drawer handles rubbed on the cards at the front. After a couple got wrecked I put some 3x5 cards in there to take the scuffing.
And I've lost a few last cards to spills. Juice or milk, then soda and eventually beer. (That was a sad sad day, wrecked a few cards and spilled a good beer. )

Steve B