Do you prefer binders or boxes?

[G1911]

I only have 1 set in a binder, the rest in shoeboxes, sometimes the 2 row made for cards and sometimes literal shoeboxes. Most sets without any sleeves, tobacco cards usually gets penny sleeved but post-war vintage all raw.

I like the binder presentation, but I like to add misprints, miscuts, blank backs and variations to my sets, which means I have to constantly take all the cards out and put them back in to add a new card in its slot, so they don't work for me, but if I built only a base set with a pre-determined exact list, I'd use binders a lot more.

[Zach Wheat]

Answer used to be binders, but now that the value component is becoming an important aspect, I am slowly switching to penny sleeves and top loaders. I don't use too many card savers as I have damaged too many corners.

However, I prefer binders and being able to look through the set easily

[JollyElm]

Binders for the ease of flipping through them to check out sets and groupings of things.
&
Boxes that are chock full of mishmashes of random stuff, and you never know what 'forgotten' cards you're suddenly going to come across. (Particularly love the cheap, decorative photo storage boxes from Michael's.)

boxofcards.jpg

[Zach Wheat]

Darren,

We need a word for your collecting style.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Darren,

We need a word for your collecting style.

My girlfriend dismissively calls it very "Elmsian," and I call her a whore to balance it out. Good times!!

[David W]

My sets from 1970 on are in binders

Easier to look through them.

Any valuable cards are in a penny sleeve in the page

[irv]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

My girlfriend dismissively calls it very "Elmsian," and I call her a whore to balance it out. Good times!!

LMAO. TFF.

You're a character, Jolly, but in a good way.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Boxes that are chock full of mishmashes of random stuff, and you never know what 'forgotten' cards you're suddenly going to come across. (Particularly love the cheap, decorative photo storage boxes from Michael's.)

I honestly have no ideas how many of these mishmash boxes I own...it's an absolute ton.

My son loves to sit and search them for treasures, then ask if he can have it. lol.

[deweyinthehall]

As I work to complete a set, I keep it in a box while it's 'under construction', but once a set is complete it goes in a binder.

I just enjoy paging through albums - seems an easier way to view a collection.

If I have trouble sleeping, I'll go grab a random binder and 'read' it to make myself tired. Seems to work.

[Exhibitman]

four pocket pages hold Card Saver I and Card Saver III (tall boys) very nicely.

I store most of my postwar cards in Card Saver I's inside the boxes they came in, which I put inside carrying cases that I had left over from the time I accumulated stacks of slabs in 2009-2013. Oddball stuff goes into binders. Slabs are in boxes; not much to do with those. My small cards are stored in mylar sleeves in 9-pocket pages. They fit perfectly and look great. I tend to collect low grade so I am not as crease-paranoid as I could be.

[Kutcher55]

I prefer boxes for pretty much all of my collection with the exception of my 1975 mini set, which is the only complete set I presently own. I use a combination of a binder for the raw cards and then as you can see if the card is graded, I print a digital photo and replace the card with the photo and then store the graded cards in the BCW supervault (photo #3). I came up with this on my own although I am aware it has been previously invented. It's a fun process although it isn't the most elegant solution. For one, my photos don't include a photo of the back. I suppose I could do that but I don't want two separate pieces of paper in there and it's not worth the trouble to figure out how to print multi-sided. Not sure it would work anyways. Right now I'm up to around 60 graded cards. I don't know how many I'll ultimately end up with although I don't intend to have 660 graded cards; otherwise the album is rendered useless. You can see 7 of the 9 cards on page 1 are graded which is a bit silly, although that is an exception to the rule. The average sheet contains 1 graded card.