Nice recipe Mike
Good discussion points Bryan, Aaron, et al.
A UL 125 safe isn't an option for me given my interest to store large items (bat, rifles, imperial cabinets, etc.) at a "reasonable" cost. I may store digital media in the safe but realize that I'm at high risk if my safe is exposed to a long and intense fire. If my digital media becomes important enough I may invest in a small UL 125 safe.
The purpose of this post was really to try and understand where card slabs fall in the pecking order. If I had to care for a McGreachery OJ overnight, I want to know the risks and how to best protect it.
I do believe damage would occur to our cards within slabs before the plastic's melting point is reached. I know coin holders have wide range of melting points amongst TPGs although it may not be as important for coins since a melted slab may not damage the coin (
one such story here). I would hope sports card slabs are held to a higher standard but they may not be. I did broach this subject with SGC at the National several years ago and didn't get much of a response (didn't appear they were hiding anything, but really couldn't answer my question). I suspect the ranking for most to least sensitive items in my safe would go something like this:
- electronic data (safe at <125F, high risk of losing in house fire)
- plastics (safe up to ???F; different results expected for various slabs, top loaders, plastic sheets, etc.)
- paper yellowing (safe at <300F)
- albumen print damage (safe up to ???F)
- dry wood charring (wide range based on wood type, moisture content, length of exposure, etc. generally higher than paper yellowing)
- paper combusting (safe at <424F)
I may run the test from post #2 and include expendable samples of items I will store to better understand what should perhaps be placed in a better safe, what should remain low in safe and what I can raise to top of safe (higher temps). This is just taking the responsibility of caring for my collectibles one step further. I'd hate to lose anything I place in the safe and a little knowledge could go a long way towards protecting everything.
If any TPG services are following this thread, I'd love to hear anything you are willing to share on this topic, either privately or publicly.
12-15-2014, 09:46 PM
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