Slowly starting to collect Topps sets 1985 and present. Have a question
 

So in addition to doing my 4 major sports Rookie project (which is a bit on hold for now), I'm also going to collect one Topps factory set for each year I have lived (and that's also not going to be as active for now, these are just slow projects to do over the year(s). I do have question:

The time I got back into the hobby in high school is when they made the cards so glossy that time has stuck them together. Is it more likely they'll be stuck if the set is not sealed or is there no difference? I got a 2001 Topps series 1 box a couple years back and that was a nightmare. If there's no difference, is there any solution to unstick them? I've heard of a few but with varying success.

Normally, sets stored in cool and dry climates will still be fine. But since any factory set could have been stored in a Floridian outdoor storage unit for years, you just have to inspect what you see and hope for the best. Buy from sellers in dry climates. Or just don't open them. That way they are pristine in your mind until you decide to sell them and pass the risk off to someone else.

Why not try to collect the Factory sets along with a duplicate hand collated set in an album?

I recently purchased a 1997 Topps factory set and all 495 cards were reduced to 4 or 5 solid bricks - unusable. Went out and got a NM hand-collated set. It's a crap shoot. Even at the time, some of these horribly glossy sets were next to impossible to sort through - even when they weren't stuck together there always seemed to be extra friction between them.

This thread is timely. Thanks for starting it. On a related note, I have been wondering about storing cards that are glossier like recent Stadium Club cards. Are they ok to store in 9 pocket pages in a binder, or will they stick?

Swarmee, I would be collecting the sets to look at them. Not doing this to invest.

Frank, for now I only want to collect one of each set and I don't really have the room for two of each year either. Interesting idea though, maybe for the future.

I've had less glossy cards stick in pages. (Classic, etc which are glossy but not like Stadium or finest) It's mostly because the smoothness allows the air to be pushed out from in between. They can be tricky to get out but won't usually be damaged except by bending them too far trying to get then to loosen up.

Thanks for the reply, Steve. I've mainly been a vintage collector, but I continually catch myself dabbling in some modern issues (mainly collecting Cardinals players cards). Through avenues like Sportlots, I have picked up some neat looking cards for not a lot of money and would feel silly toploading all of those. At the same time, I wouldn't feel comfortable just sleeving them and putting them in a box either. I thought perhaps 9 pocket pages and a binder might be the answer.

Then why not get hand-collated sets instead, that way you know they're not stuck together?

Because I really like the look of the factory set boxes and how they display.

Edit: Thinking I may just do a combo of Frank and Swarmee's ideas. Just buy sealed sets now for display and then perhaps buy hand colated sets in the future.

Unless a card is special somehow, I don't even bother with sleeves. Some of the inserts get sleeves, especially die cuts that are likely to get caught on the cards around it. (Accursed Topps Lasers...) And most of the signed or material cards get a toploader.

I abandoned most of the binders about the time I realized I probably wasn't going to have some 50's and 60's sets even half complete. When I set up a binder, I left room for the cards I didn't have yet. I still have some oddball stuff in a binder, and 74 Topps, and most of the 75 OPC set I bought incomplete and already in a binder.

I moved in some partial Magic card sets as I got them and freed up pages.