General Forum

Hey all! As I get closer to finishing out my 80s Topps baseball set I'm wondering how call of you display or store your sets. As a kid I was a huge binder guy. I got away from it as an adult because I heard tales of how bad it was. But now as I'm heading into the back 9 I am leaning back towards putting sets in binders so I can flip through them when I feel like reminiscing. 
 

My questions would be - How do you all like storing sets? 
If you go binder, do you keep the bigger value cards out of the binder? Do you do a top loader page? Do you have doubles? What kind of binders/pages work best in terms of keeping cards free of damage?

Storage Boxes - do you penny sleeve everything? Do you use 4 row boxes and keep multiple sets from the same era in the same box? Top load the higher value cards or pull them out for display? 
 

Everyone obviously has their own method that works for them. Im just trying to hear some of the different ways you all do it so I can make a decision on my pc. Thanks! Happy collecting!

I WANT to binder everything. Reality tells me otherwise; my place is only so big. Right now my sets are all in 800ct boxes, regardless of brand or year. Having everything in the same size boxes makes it easier for me to store everything, even have multiple sets are in one box. I have a coding system so I can find everything on the shelves. There is nothing in the boxes that are in penny sleeves. Sets that I got with them all had the sleeves removed. The high value cards are indeed in top loaders though with the top loaders inside the box. At some point I'll have stuff moved into binders (when real estate becomes "affordable" again) as I'd love to flip through the sets. In the meantime.... 

I have a little different approach than jim.   I have an assorted size of set boxes no larger than 800 Ct.  I don't plan on making sets bigger than that.   I will however double up if 2 sets fit in a bigger ct set box.    I do sleeve all the good ones and sometimes topload.  I feel if it's a completed set, you're closing it and leaving it, so I'm comfortable with the set card only sleeved to fit with the rest of the collation.  I'm not a fan of binders, but only because of the moisture exposure compared to sleeved in a box.   

This is my plan, it is only partly because executed so far... but for sets I want to look at, which is all my 80s sets. I put them in platinum pages in a black binder I get from Staples. I store the binders flat, not upright. As I get more sets hindered I'm probably going to have to do some custom shelving so I can conveniently stack multiple binders. I'm also contemplating some kind of custom insert for the front and back of the the stack of pages to keep them even more flat and uniform in the binder. I don't want to spend a lot of money on this part of the hobby, but I think there is a way forward to have everything I want - easily accessible bindered sets I that will also be well-preserved for a long time. 
 

For my 1978 set, I have my best cards in a separate box, but I've gotten leaser grade examples for the binder so that there aren't any gaps. For some sets this might be cost prohibitive. A lesser grade Henderson RC may still be too much to spend for binder filler. Some people do a color printout of the card and put those in the spots. 
 

For sets I have but don't care to look at, They are in boxes ready to sell or trade if anyone wants them. But it is often hard to sell or trade undesirable sets because the shipping ends up costing too much to make it worth it. So I've considered breaking them up and trading singles to set-builders. 

I was just checking out these pages below. You could store all the larger value cards with toploaders.

https://www.amazon.com/20-Twenty-Pages-4-Pocket-Postcards/dp/B01M7YLLFL/ref=asc_df_B01M7YLLFL/?tag=&linkCode=df0&hvadid=416724519020&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9698096031115752892&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001933&hvtargid=pla-891718665823&ref=&adgrpid=99283605972&th=1

I think complete sets are great for binders. Ive never had an issue storing in binders. Just keep them out of humid areas with large hot/cold cycles and you should be fine. I have approximately 20 binders of PC stuff and I prefer it that way. Any excess, i just store in monster boxes. My PC being primarily Cubs cards, I have maybe 5 binders full and another 4-5 monster boxes. IKEA has varying sized cube shelves that are perfect for binder storage standing them up. 

I keep my cards in a combination of boxes and binders. I'm a set builder for OPC hockey (original flavour, Premier, and new Upper Deck scented), and Topps Heritage Baseball, so those go in binders. I also have binders for Upper Deck hockey base from 2018-19 through to current series. Young Guns go in top loaders in a box.

I like the "shoebox" size boxes (2 rows, 1600 cards). My PC cards go in these, as well as any sets that I dabble in, but am not worried about completing. All of my PC cards get a penny sleeve and top loader, even if they are of little value. Inserts or potentially valuable cards get penny sleeves.

I also have two 4-row boxes... one has all of my Upper Deck hockey from 90-91 up to 2017-18, but the first two years of UD hockey will probably move to binders soon. The other is all of my Upper Deck base traders. There is a LOT of 18-19 if anyone needs it.

Much of the last year (I just got back into the hobby after... 30 odd years... last summer) has been spent trying to make the best use of my space and find ways to actually be able to enjoy the cards I have. I don't want to just seal them away never to be seen again.

Almost everything that I have is in binders so I can see them without having to handle them every time. I store them on the shelves with the spine horizontal, so the pages hang from the 3 rings, rather than setting the spine of the binder vertical,  which "curves" the cards over time.

I use penny sleeves and toploaders for every card in my PC. I keep them in 4 row boxes. I found bigger boxes are too heavy and smaller boxes stacked makes me move around too many boxes to get to the one I want. 

I stored some cards in the 80's in binders only to find the top row of cards curled on the top edge. 

At this point I feel committed to boxes as opposed to binders.

I am so tired of answering this same question 3-4 times a year. Search the forums and you'll find a dozen more threads just like this one with the exact same question and all of the exact same answers. There are only a few different ways to do it anyway! Sorry to sound snarky, but I'm just speaking the truth.