Topps complete set “bricking”

[slinger23]

Originally Posted by JustinD

There is a fairly easy help for bricking or sticking high gloss cards. If you have stuck cards place them in the freezer for at least a few hours and then separate slowly.

I have used this successfully for years and just recently cracked a 2000s wax box that was completely stuck…every card. I completed the entire box and damaged only 2 cards.

Curious about this. I have heard about this tip, but have never tried. I have some 1994 Topps football and 2001 Topps baseball (notorious) that are bricked. Did you do anything special like but the cards in a plastic/freezer bag or simply put in the card board box set in the freezer. Thanks for the suggestion.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by slinger23

Curious about this. I have heard about this tip, but have never tried. I have some 1994 Topps football and 2001 Topps baseball (notorious) that are bricked. Did you do anything special like but the cards in a plastic/freezer bag or simply put in the card board box set in the freezer. Thanks for the suggestion.

Most of my issues have been with unopened packs although I have done it with set boxes of super high gloss football like Wild Card. Pinnacle comes to mind as a storage disaster as well.

I have a chest freezer and honestly just put the whole box in before work or the night before if I am planning on trying to pull them. No fancy method of bags, never found reason to. If opening packs, I take out 5-6 packs at a time and go back and forth. You will get the hand of it after a few packs. I just very gently use two fingers of the sides of the top or bottom card and curve it up ever so slightly like a bridge. It should pop right off.

When my son was younger I would buy lots of junk wax for us to crack for fun. You can tell a box that has been in the attic or a hot garage pretty darn fast, we got to be a fairly good team at doing this.

[Mike D.]

I just had a 1998 Fleer Tradition update set arrive yesterday. I didn’t open it but knew they were a candidate for bricking. So I stuck the 100 card set box in a ziploc in the freezer for about 4 hours this AM, then opened the cards.

No bricking and opened easily. I don’t know the state of the cards beforehand, but the freezer trick at a minimum didn’t make anything worse, and may have made it far better.

[homerunhitter]

Someone just posted on Facebook that anything printed after 1991 Topps has potential to “brick” because that when Topps changed from cardboard to white card stock.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

Someone just posted on Facebook that anything printed after 1991 Topps has potential to “brick” because that when Topps changed from cardboard to white card stock.

Interesting. I always assumed bricking was due to the UV coating Topps started adding. I have always been concerned my 1991 Topps Desert Shield packs would deteriorate due to the gum inside

[deweyinthehall]

Just received a sealed 2001 Topps factory set - two big bricks. I knew I was taking a chance.

They're in the freezer now.

I looked for quite a while for hand-collated sets but only found a couple and they were just the first series, which doesn't have the Ichiro.

Sigh.....

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

Just received a sealed 2001 Topps factory set - two big bricks. I knew I was taking a chance.

They're in the freezer now.

I looked for quite a while for hand-collated sets but only found a couple and they were just the first series, which doesn't have the Ichiro.

Sigh.....

So, I would up placing small brick in the freezer but found it didn't help. What I wound up doing was patiently pulling 790 cards apart one at a time. It worked - I had to order perhaps 12 to replace some that came apart with some snowy remnants but other than that no issues. Happy one of the replacements wasn't Ichiro.

This being said, I've been watching some box and pack break vids on YouTube to get an idea of which color checklists were packed into which type box and some folks pull cards apart trying to separate them - like when Jabs opened that 1972 OPC box.

I would NEVER open a Traded Pack looking for a Pujols, that's for sure.

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

Someone just posted on Facebook that anything printed after 1991 Topps has potential to “brick” because that when Topps changed from cardboard to white card stock.

I agree with this comment. I ran into a couple of mid 90 bricked Topps Sets. The only way I would even consider buying any glossy sets now is to do it in person and shake the box before I buy them. You can hear if they are or are not bricked.

Thankfully, I am done collecting these years and suffered minimal issues. I would imagine that a Trout rookie has this brick potential too. Imagine spending 1K+ on that set and opening it up and finding a door stop for a set.

Makes one shudder.

Butch.

[deweyinthehall]

I actually think the Trouts would be ok.

I can't articulate it well, but there is a definite difference in the feel and gloss of the late-90s and early 00s cards that ended by about 2004 or 2005.

Those later cards and onward seem smoother? Less prone to friction or 'stickiness" even close to the date of issue - I recall opening packs from 2001, 2003, etc. where going through the cards was difficult as they clung to each other a bit when new.

[frankhardy]

All of my sets are in albums (1975 -present). Bricking seemed to stop somewhere in the mid 2000's I thought. Topps started using a different coating. I remember 2003 being terrible. Seems like around 2004 or 2005 they changed coating. I could be wrong on the year, but I don't have problems with bricking any more, and I have tons of cards in my uninsulated garage.