Interesting way my friend used to store his cards

BBCgalaxee · Jun 25, 2014

Everyone did weird things as a kid. I always thought my friend was weird by how he stored his cards.

But as I think back now, perhaps I was wrong.

Back in the later 80s, Beckett was EVERYTHING. Dealer's wouldn't sell cards unless priced in the book.

Cards went up or down by nickels, dimes, etc. When browsing a sets prices, it was common seeing cards at 30 cents, 40 cents, 45 cents, 80 cents, etc.

My friend had a method to his card storage.

Any card priced under 50 cents went into a box while cards priced .50 to .90 went into a "hundred count" box.

Cards priced $1 to $2 filled out a binder and anything priced higher into a topload.

Ok so that doesn't sound weird, until you find out what happens next.

If a card drops from .50 to .40 in a month, he would remove it from the "hundred count" and put it back into the common box.

If a card jumped from .90 to a buck, he would put it into album. And if that same card dropped under a dollar, out the album it went.

Back then, it just felt so unnecessary to me....And weird. But he enjoyed doing it.

Now, looking back, I can see how it could have been fun. Every month, there would be all sorts of arrows which always lead to these "card dances" which turned into a game of sorts for him.

Anyone else have/ had "different" ways of sorting their cards?

rsmath · Jun 26, 2014

I'd put any card with beckett HI valued at $1 or more in a penny sleeve/toploader and then into my custom made wood storage box.

so I was doing a "dance" of some form as each month some cards would hit the $1+ mark and get pulled, toploaded, and placed back in the storage box while other cards would get removed from the toploader and the card placed back in the storage box.

Pretty nice to tell at a glance which cards were a buck plus and which ones were under a buck -- not that it was going to matter since the cards were for the PC and not intended to be sold. That's what makes my card "dance" seem stupid now when I reflect on what I did as a kid with all that.

fordman · Jun 26, 2014

I used to ask the local grocery stores for their boxes that Land O Lakes cheese came in. They were great for storing cards!

mchenrycards · Jun 26, 2014

fordman said:
I used to ask the local grocery stores for their boxes that Land O Lakes cheese came in. They were great for storing cards!

My dad worked for a local school and the cafeteria went through cheese like crazy and and he would bring those boxes home in 10 or 12 box bundles every other week. I actually still have some of them storing cards 20 years later.

Pine Tar · Jun 26, 2014

mchenrycards said:
My dad worked for a local school and the cafeteria went through cheese like crazy and and he would bring those boxes home in 10 or 12 box bundles every other week. I actually still have some of them storing cards 20 years later.

GOV-MINT Cheese? And do add a picture to you post of said cheese boxes

DeliciousBacon · Jun 26, 2014

I used to go through the Beckett every month, as soonas it came in the mail, and add up the price changes to see how much my collection went up. When they introduced the concept of minor star/semistar/unlisted star, I freaked out big time, as many of my cards had just doubled in value. Looking back, I can see when I never had a girlfriend for most of my teen years...

BBCgalaxee · Dec 8, 2015

Bumping this as surprisingly my friend brought it up to me recently and I remembered posting about it.

Anyone want to add some other oddities?

Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

mrmopar · Dec 8, 2015

Eventually they were all worthless because he handled them so often that they became mangled!!

BBCgalaxee said:
If a card drops from .50 to .40 in a month, he would remove it from the "hundred count" and put it back into the common box.

If a card jumped from .90 to a buck, he would put it into album. And if that same card dropped under a dollar, out the album it went.

My dad made us some nice wood boxes that were similar to the current cardboard boxes with rows. They were not fancy, but definitely cool. Heavy for sure. I don't think any survived my youth though.

Will Style 13 · Dec 8, 2015

I had a friend that kept his cards in Empty crayola crayon boxes. Fortunately he didn't own anything too valuable.

digicat · Dec 9, 2015

BBCgalaxee said:
Anyone else have/ had "different" ways of sorting their cards?

I did something similar back in the 80s and early 90s. Everything 25 cents and up got put into a penny sleeve, and organized in monster-box type boxes, with dividers, in 5 cent increments. Anything that was worth $3 or more got put into "Card Protectos" (early version of Card Saver II's).

Every month, I'd go into the box and move cards around based on the new Beckett price.

The trade binder was usually strategically loaded based on what teams the kids I traded with were fans of, and which of their players might have done something notable recently.

mouschi · Dec 9, 2015

Back then, beckett was everything (did you say that already?) I LOVED that magazine, and interestingly enough, I just picked up a collection recently that had a massive run-or near-run of becketts from the 80's and 90's.

So, for storage, I used to use a binder and then my mom came up with something that I swear she invented ... putting TWO cards front and back to each page pocket. I thought she was a genius! The downside was that you couldn't easily see the stats on the backs of the cards, but the up side was ... less money in pages = more money in cards!

Later on, the struggle between boxes & pages grew, so I decided to merge the two and get ultra pro 4 pocket pages for my vintage stuff. I would first put the cards in top loaders and then put them in the 4-pocket pages. That way they were UBER protected AND I could enjoy flipping through the pages. The best of both worlds!

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Interesting way my friend used to store his cards

BBCgalaxee

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rsmath

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fordman

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mchenrycards

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Pine Tar

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DeliciousBacon

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BBCgalaxee

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mrmopar

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Will Style 13

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digicat

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mouschi

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