[FrankDTank_36]

Hey guys i just started collecting cards again and i have a few questions on what the best practices are when protecting and storing cards.

The first question i have is when your opening packs what do you sleeve, sleeve and toploader, or one touch? Do you sleeve everything including base cards, rookies, and inserts? Im starting to store my cards and i have no clue on what deserves a sleeve other than the obvious auto/relic/numbered cards which i have been sleeving and toploading.

The other question i have is how do you sort your cards. Im not looking to set build so i thought maybe sorting by team would be best with dividers for rookies, inserts, autos, relics, etc. But im starting to think having that many dividers in a box isnt the greatest idea.

Thanks for any input

[foleylion08]

Personally, I sleeve everything but base, but I'm not sure that is common practice. I just like things to be protected, and for a penny, why not?

As for toploaders, I'll use those, as you said, on the obvious things like autos and relics and if it's a low serial-numbered card or a serial numbered card of a "star" player.

Again, a place I stray from the mainstream is that I CANNOT stand one-touch cases. Of the 15,000+ cards in my collection, I have probably less than 50 in one-touch cases. Half of those being because I didn't want to risk taking them out lol. But the majority seem to use them on pieces they plan to display or high-dollar items. They're too bulky and honestly expensive for me to use heavily.

As for sorting, I have numerous ways my things are sorted. I have two-, three- four- and five-row boxes with all of my various PC cards in there. For my Patriots collection I have them sorted first by current players and retired players. Within that subset, I place them in "roster" order. So QBs, RBs, WRs, etc and have my offense and defense divided.

For non-PC cards I just have them sorted by pro or college team. No extra dividers for autos/relics/numbered. Maybe two seperate boxes? One for inserts/RCs divided by team and one for the "better" stuff?

To each their own really. Whatever makes the most sense to you for your PC and whatever makes it easiest to find non-PC cards if you plan on listing them to sell and/or trade.

Hope that helps!

[kerryandbeth]

I also penny sleeve everything $1 or more value, with toploader for $8 or more value. Then I stand them up in boxes designed for such things, in alphabetical order, separated into categories: Twins, Vikings, Stars to keep, Stars to trade, Stars part of a completed set, and unique cards.

I have changed my organization method 3 times in the past 10 years...why? Because I not only remind myself of what I have, but I think improvement is always a possibility when having fun in a hobby.

Good luck!

[leadmetogreatness]

I sleeve rcs,inserts,#d,sps,refractors, odd ball cards, some star base that are put in boxes ft; autos, gu ft are sleeved and top loaded. For my pcs everything but base, most inserts are sleeved and top loaded. Base eventually will be put in albums sorted by year/brand, inserts sorted by player and/or brand.

[Jquinn83]

I organize everything by Sport, Year, Set, & number. This way I can find any card in my collection at any time. I plan on building my own database so I can search quickly by player, team or even college.

Anything less them $2 gets stored non-sleeved in card boxes. Anything from $2 -$6 gets put into a binder with 9-slot sleeve pages. Anything over $6 gets put into a toploader then put into a card box for toploaders. Any Auto/Mem under $12 goes into a toploaders, any above that go into one touches.

[savagenate]

Everything but maybe the base card gets sleeved for me. Then most of them go in a 9 pocket binder. I sort by player or team mostly. Autos and game used I try to protect either with one touch, or I'm looking into alternate grading options that are cheap and solely for display. RCs of stars get graded. Trade stuff is sleeved, top loaded, and bagged, and stored in boxes. I have several cardboard boxes that have rows set up to store cards. I put some of the major player collections, set collections I can't display, or random autos/game used in them. Then I have a display case I bought on eBay that I use to display my SB MVP collection.

[DCM7734]

Sleeving: Everything PC. If it's not PC, all non base gets sleeved, base does not. Toploaded cards in PC are anything worth $5 or more in Beckett, or SPs, autos, or relics, regardless of price. For trade cards, $5 or more in beckett gets sleeved if base. If it's a hit or a SP, just depends on if I have room in the box to topload. But the high value, or super nice gets toploaded.
I do not like one touches or graded cards because they are too bulky. (personal preference)
As for sort, I just have base and non-base seperated right now, and then on top of that, PC and trade. However, probably in a year when I move, I'll take out RCs for their own thing, SPs for their own things, relics/autos/patch autos for their own thing, and then parallel/inserts for their own thing.