Best way to store and preserve...

[qj-baseball]

Hi All,

My internet searches have turned up empty so I hope my fellow collectors can help. I'm looking for tips and information to protect my collection. At the moment, I own about 40 high grade vintage cards (1957-1967) all in PSA holders. Lately, I have grown more and more concerned about preserving them over the long haul. I currently store them all in two stackable Sterlite plastic boxes. I know sunlight is a killer but what else should I be concerned about? Does the PSA slab offer any protection? Do the PSA slab rails damage the card? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

qj

[jb217676]

I store all my PSA holders in the 65 count boxes available from PSA. You can also find them on ebay.

[Jim VB]

Here's one solution for you. The wood boxes are pretty nice. I haven't tried the cheaper chipboard boxes.


http://aboxfactory.com/products.php?pid=93&detail=true

[Exhibitman]

Light is the big killer of cards, of course, but moisture also is a risk. Graded slabs are not watertight--I believe BVG's is closest. Kevin (onlychild) did some experimenting on them, I seem to recall, and BVG's was the best. I would not count on a slab alone protecting from moisture, though.

I look for a plastic (not cardboard or wood--water can soak into them) box with as close to a positive seal (seal that does not allow moisture to pass through) as is feasible and constructed so that the seam between the lid and the box is as close to the top as possible. In most cases that boils down to a seal where the box rim goes under the rim of the lid so that gravity-driven water would run down the side of the lid and fall off rather than getting into the interior of the box. PSA had these great plastic boxes that were opaque, had a positive seal, and held 25 slabs. Don't know what happened to those--I haven't seen them for a while offered by PSA. There are some food containers with built-in rubber gaskets that achieve a very strong positive seal. I have one called "Lock & Lock" which has a gasket and clips down on all four sides. I use it to go to the National and other shows just in case I get caught in weather while traveling. That happened once--Cleveland--and the cards stayed bone dry. Organize.com sells them. I also keep a number of those silica dessicant packs in my storage cabinet and safe deposit box. Although I live in a fairly arid climate I figure it is just good practice to control the humidity as much as possible.

[Zach Wheat]

One inexpensive alternative is used military ammo boxes. I purchased some 200 cartridge 7.62MM ammo boxes at a local army suprlus store. They are inexpensive and absolutely perfect for storing PSA, SGC and BVG encapsulated cards. I paid between $5-10 per box.

The cases have a handle, are heat resistant & are water proof for short periods of time. In addition, the cases keep the cards from jostling around when carried. The cases have a rubber moisture seal around the rims (which can be replaced) and are water resistant. However, I am not sure if they are "water proof" for anything other than a short period of time. They certainly would keep cards dry if it rained and I happened to be carrying them into a show.

They hold about 50 cards each; the larger ammo boxes are available for larger graded cards. I haven't found a good solution for my T3's yet.

MEWheat