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+--- Thread: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? (/thread-1621515.html)
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When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - hempick - 01-18-2022
So I happened to find a 2020 Luis Robert Heritage High Number Action Variation rookie in by box of common rookies earlier today. Not sure how I missed that it was the Action Variation when I first pulled it because it literally says "Action" right above his picture on the back of the card.
Anyway, I immediately put it in a penny sleeve and top loader, but it got me thinking...
When did penny sleeves become a thing? When did top loaders start showing up in the hobby?
My mom collected during the 1950s and the vast majority of her cards are pretty beat up. She used to keep them in small paper bags.
My (much) older cousin gave me a bunch of his cards after he got out of the hobby in the late 80s/early 90s. He used to be a dealer and had a bunch of the better cards in top loaders, but I don't remember any being in soft sleeves.
So... when did card protection really become a thing? Sleeves, top loaders, binders/pages?
Anyone have some lore to drop on that?
TIA
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - bonds20001 - 01-19-2022
Thicker more rigid sleeves were developed for the gaming cards like magic about 1995 and the thinner ones broke too easily when shuffling. The real thin ones I am not sure the timing.
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - PhoenixRisen - 01-19-2022
I was collecting in the 1980s. I can 100% say penny sleeves, toploaders, and binder pages existed then. I had lots of them all. It was right about the turn of the decade into the 90s when I started using snap-tight cases for my better cards but I had screwdown cases before then. Clam shell jewel cases also existed in this timeperiod. So I can't say when they were invented. But I know for a fact they were pretty common in the late 80s.
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - DrMitchJ - 01-20-2022
70’s stored my cards in cigar boxes and rubber bands
my cousin kept his in Wonderbread bags ... how strange Early to mid 80’s I only remember clam shell holders in all sizes to hold anywhere from 10 cards to 100 cards and cardboard boxes for anything over 100+ cards
Late 80’s / early 90’s didn’t collect baseball ... but started to see card sleeves at comic shops for non-sport trading cards and the start of two-piece plastic
Large super heavy & super expensive lucite screw down protectors were around early/mid eighties but only used for big $$$ cards
When I got back into the hobby 2011 ... penny sleeves were already an industry standard.
I’m guessing they came around during the turn of the century 1998-2002 when I was totally oblivious of anything going on in the hobby. Just a guess
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - ricelynnevans75 - 01-20-2022
Top loaders I remember from ages ago but penny sleeves I have no idea. I feel like it was the mid-late 90s is when they started to become the norm and people wanted to protect their cards that during that time were becoming much more "valuable" than the cards from early in the 90s and back.
When '98 SPx Finite came out, I was a HUGE fan of those and would put some of them in penny sleeves and top loaders but good lord, those were a pain to get into a penny sleeves at the time as they were thicker than most cards and they still only had the one size of penny sleeve. That I knew of anyway.
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - elberson - 01-20-2022
I started collecting in 1988…..penny sleeves and top loader where used than!!!!
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - zeprock - 01-20-2022
Ultra Pro released the first card sleeves in 1995 designed specifically for collectible card games. They were called "deck protectors" back then and were made of polypropylene. This coincides with the popularity of Magic: The Gathering and were designed so that players could protect their cards while still being able to shuffle them.
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - bonds20001 - 01-21-2022
(01-20-2022, 04:09 PM)zeprock Wrote: Ultra Pro released the first card sleeves in 1995 designed specifically for collectible card games. They were called "deck protectors" back then and were made of polypropylene. This coincides with the popularity of Magic: The Gathering and were designed so that players could protect their cards while still being able to shuffle them.
ZEP: Same source as mine.
Deck protector for Magic were needed to protect cards during shuffling.
I remember top loaders in 1991 when I started to really collect..did not use penny sleeves until later..
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - PhoenixRisen - 01-21-2022
(01-20-2022, 04:09 PM)zeprock Wrote: Ultra Pro released the first card sleeves in 1995 designed specifically for collectible card games. They were called "deck protectors" back then and were made of polypropylene. This coincides with the popularity of Magic: The Gathering and were designed so that players could protect their cards while still being able to shuffle them.
I don't believe this is true at all. I stopped collecting prior to 1995 and when I got back into it, I had whole boxes of cards in penny sleeves from prior to 1995.
Edit: I looked up your source. It is specifically talking about sleeves for card games and in the very next sentence says the "deck protectors" that Ultra Pro released in 1995 were different than "traditional card sleeves" indicating penny sleeves were around BEFORE deck protectors. Which I am 100% sure of.
RE: When were penny sleeves invented? When did they become commonplace? - zeprock - 01-21-2022
I believe the "traditional card sleeves" they refer to were the hard plastic top-loaders which came first.