Couple questions about protecting your collection

[Pei]

Hey Guys,

I wanted to consult you with some issues i had in mind.

1. First, I wanted to know which toploaders do you recommend using ? What is common and which are best for your cards? How do you storage them ?
   
2. Same goes for albums, How do you protect your albums ?
   
3. Last one, I'm looking for places to purchase those items ^ over the internet, since i can't find them in my country. I'm also looking for toploaders for XXL cards (5X7) but can't find them over ebay with a reasonable price (Shipping is twice the item price) . Can you help me with some links ?
   
   Thanks.

 

[Pavle]

Hi Pei,

I think it would be good that some other guys chime in here with their recomendation. @ilias is a quite knowledgeable when it comes to protection and storage of cards/stickers.

Here is what I think

• Most reliable toploaders are BCW and Ultra Pro. However I would not worry that much about toploaders. If you have good card sleeves, you can use nearly all toploaders. Always use sleeve + toploader, never only toploader.
• We had really good discussion about album protection on the previous forum. So far there are no supplies specifically made for albums. I keep mine in book protectors and then put them in food zip bags which are acid free and hang them on my shelf. Many collectors would agree this is not prefect way. I hope some other members might give their opinions on album protection.
• eBay and Amazon are reliable sites that I use. I can not recommend any other. International shipping is pricey, and you just have to accept that. Buy in bulk or try to trade with other members. That is the cheapest solution.

Additionally here are some resources that you can read :

• General card collection on site that I created few months ago
• Guide to toploaders
• Choosing the best card sleeves on Cardz review main blog

 

[Agustín]

Hi Pei,
Personally, I use sleeves for my cards (Ultra Pro), having some of them in a binder and some others on one big box. They remain in very good form.

I protect my albums by putting them on this plastic things (sorry, I do not know how are they named in english):

 

[ilias]

@Pavle Thanks for mentioning me!

@Pei Pavle gave you some great information about storage. When it comes to stickers or cards make sure you use Top-Loaders with sleeves! BCW or Ultra-Pro are fine make sure they are pvc free and acid free on purchasing supplies.

For your XXl cards that's a little tricky. I forgot who who sells large top loaders. I just have to go on there web page and see which company was selling them.

Now for albums that's a bit tricky. I purchased these Hugh top-loaders for my albums. Unfortunately storage for them was very difficult.

Album storage is still tricky. I think a lot of collectors have there own way of storage,but nothing that's specifically meant for albums.

Any more questions ask away here to help.

 

[Pei]

Thanks for the answers !
I'll adapt most of your ideas. I Didn't know it's best to use sleeve + top-loader, but is sounds reasonable.
I'll probably buy 100 premium toploaders from ebay, since amazon doesn't ship to Israel some items -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351165039306?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&var=620357932725&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

@Agustín
Thanks for this idea, we all got plenty of those bags i'm assuming.

@ilias
I'll be glad to here about those large top-loaders and where you purchased from.

 

[ilias]

@Pei
Here is the link
http://www.bcwsupplies.com/cat/photo-supplies

I use these for my autograph photos( I only have one haha) but this will work for you just look for the size and make sure you get PVC and Acid free

 

[redwhite]

Same goes for albums, How do you protect your albums ?

I'm also still looking for the best way to store my albums. Last year I could purchase some plastic covers for all my different WC14-albums from a Colombian friend. They had an imprint of the logo, so I can only use them for my WC14-albums. In Brasil they were also selling some covers, but they were printed. So at the moment I'm lookin for those type of covers without any prints on it. I have one cover without any prints on it and it's the perfect format for a normal album, but the problem is that I can't trace the origin source anymore. At the moment I'm using it for my Israelian album of WC14. If someone know a good address where we can purchase such a kind of covers, please let us know. In attachment I'll add some photos.

Also any tips for different formats are welcome? Does anyone know a plastic cover where a bigger album can fit in? An album of the FIFA365-serie for example.

 

[Pavle]

@redwhite I store my albums the exactly same way. These are nothing special, just a plastic book covers. No idea where they can be found, but back in the days, I used to wrap my books for school in them. Its easy to go through album. Not sure if its the best way, but for me its okay.

 

[Pavle]

Here is yet another general guide on supplies and trading card storage on our blog.
http://www.cardzreview.com/sports-cards-storage-and-supplies/

 

[Kacper13]

I'm also still looking for the best way to store my albums. Last year I could purchase some plastic covers for all my different WC14-albums from a Colombian friend. They had an imprint of the logo, so I can only use them for my WC14-albums. In Brasil they were also selling some covers, but they were printed. So at the moment I'm lookin for those type of covers without any prints on it. I have one cover without any prints on it and it's the perfect format for a normal album, but the problem is that I can't trace the origin source anymore. At the moment I'm using it for my Israelian album of WC14. If someone know a good address where we can purchase such a kind of covers, please let us know. In attachment I'll add some photos.

Also any tips for different formats are welcome? Does anyone know a plastic cover where a bigger album can fit in? An album of the FIFA365-serie for example.

@redwhite I late see Your post, I used some covers for my albums. I buy it in my local ''paper and newspapers'' shop. I used many covers:

-A43R: World Cup, Euro, Copa America
-A42R: National Leagues
-A41R: For Road To Euro 2016.

I send photo in post. It is good covers for my albums I am happy. I bought many covers. Probably I can get 2-5 covers for 1 week, beacuse the seller order it for me. I can get some for You.

 

[gaspy]

@redwhite I late see Your post, I used some covers for my albums. I buy it in my local ''paper and newspapers'' shop. I used many covers:

-A43R: World Cup, Euro, Copa America
-A42R: National Leagues
-A41R: For Road To Euro 2016.

I send photo in post. It is good covers for my albums I am happy. I bought many covers. Probably I can get 2-5 covers for 1 week, beacuse the seller order it for me. I can get some for You.

Sounds interesting: are those covers available somewhere on the net?

 

[Kacper13]

Sounds interesting: are those covers available somewhere on the net?

Hi my friend from Italy. No, it is not available on net. In Poland collection of stickers is not popular. It is normal covers for covering books In Poland we have a ''plastic shops, with newspapers shop'' and I bought it here. If You want some covers I can get it for You, but You must write me how many covers do You want, and for what albums do You want. If seller from this shop want order it for me, I can really get it.

I buy it for 2,50 PLN = 0,50 Euro

If You want, please send me message on LastSticker.

I Upload more photos.

 

[Kacper13]

Album World Cup 2014, and Road To World Cup 2014, have the same height, but albums dont have the same width. You can edit width.

 

[redwhite]

@Kacper13 Thanks for your reply. I'm in holiday now to check all. I can tell you that in the meantime I found a distributor from the UK who sold those covers, but their service was so bad that I gave it up. The order that I had in my mind was althaugh high due it was for 3 collectors. All my albums (mostly empty) are still in cardboard boxes, not the best way to store.

 

[Kacper13]

Thanks for your reply. I'm in holiday now to check all. I can tell you that in the meantime I found a distributor from the UK who sold those covers, but their service was so bad that I gave it up. The order that I had in my mind was althaugh high due it was for 3 collectors. All my albums (mostly empty) are still in cardboard boxes, not the best way to store.

Hi, So, good holidays! If You want, I am waiting for meesage.

 

[Cabral]

Great thread. Thank you!

 

[Satresar]

I think that I'm little late to answer this post but I'm new on this page. I'm from Colombia an I think I can contribute to build this forum. Normally we don't really have a big amount of collectors, because the country only have some recently participation on the World Cup. On 2014, this topic was a big thing. On some spesific streets you can see like 10 informal business selling stickers from the album. As a curious thing, this kind of plastic became so popular, a lot of people bought in that time to protect their albums. Nowadays, with a second consecutive World Cup qualification, the sticker offer became bigger and bigger. This year, I bought the same kind of plastic protection from the album. Normally, the specialize sticker business on the street are selling this plastic protector. I'm really interest if around the world you can buy this kind of plastic with some relief. I bought about 4 covers on the same place and I can fit most of my World Cup albums. This isn't very beautiful but it works well. I'm not sure about how this idea became so famous here and isn't around the world. I have to investigate more on the Colombian collectors groups to indicate all the information on those souvenirs. As additional thing I attached some photos if you're interest to see how look the Russia album with the cover.

 

[redwhite]

@Satresar Welcome and thanks for sharing your pictures. Yes, for so far I know, it seems Colombia is the onliest country who has those covers with relief. I could purchase me those covers from a Colombian collector during World Cup Brasil and now the same person reserved me already some of World Cup Russia.

Here is an example of the previous edition (see also post #7):


But as you can see, not all albums fit in properly if you take a look at the logo of the album, but it's still the best way to protect all my different albums of that serie.

 

[ilias]

I’ve been trying to find something to prevent our books from getting damaged, I even started researching on how comic books are stored to see if I can do the same with my albums. Comics are stored in sleeves and something called boards, So the book will not get bent and the boards actually help with acid, Since comic books are printed on certain paper which our sticker albums might be printed on the same format.
Still very difficult to find something that works well I currently keep my albums in sleeves and top-loaders, but the size of the top-loader is ridiculous. Hope company’s can help us out.

I said this many times Panini should focus on Storage for Albums/Loose Stickers.

 

[Dieter]

I use BCW sleeves for albums, works perfectly, not cheap though