Supplies

Conquering the Card Closet

The Closet of Chaos is Now the Closet of Calm

Back in December, I wrote about how I did not have a good way to store my extra card supplies. I had half-full boxes of card pages, in all different sizes, that were just stuffed on a shelf in a closet. Other supplies like toploaders and soft sleeves were stashed wherever I could find room. It made locating and retrieving supplies difficult.

Heck, sometimes I even bought supplies that I already had enough of because I could not find them in the first place. 

Well, little by little, I kept figuring out what to do with my “Card Closet of Chaos.” Continue reading “Conquering the Card Closet”

Three More Great Uses for Playmat Topload Holders

BCW’s Spectrum Playmat Topload Holders are a great way to display your favorite gaming playmats and protect them when going to your next CCG tournament.

But don’t let the name fool you; these may be “playmat” toploaders for gamers, but sports collectors will find these useful, too.

Here are three ways I use the Playmat Topload Holders to protect some of my sports memorabilia. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog.

Taming the Card Closet of Chaos

Getting a Grip on My Memorabilia Supplies 

Last week, I wrote about how vintage cards usually look better in 9-pocket pages because pages tend to hide some of the flaws that would otherwise be visible. But this also brought back to light something that has always bothered me: how should I store my unused card pages? 

I know this sounds like a silly question, but for over 20 years, I never knew what to do with the pages I wasn’t using. Like, you buy a box of 100 pages and only use 50 of them, you could stash the rest almost anywhere because they won’t take up much space. And a normal collector could do just that. 

But what if you are a freak like me who has ALL the different sizes of card pages?

In addition to several hundred 9-pocket pages, I also have: Continue reading “Taming the Card Closet of Chaos”

Interlocking Card Frames Make a Great Wall Display

You put a lot of time, passion, and money into your collection. So, it is only natural that you would want to display your best cards – either graded or ungraded – on your wall. BCW Interlocking Card Frames are a great way to display your cardboard treasures for the world to see. They are versatile, easy to hang, fit together nicely, and add a touch of class to your display. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog.

How to Safely Display Your Favorite Cards on a Shelf

We as collectors spend a lot of time seeking out the trading cards that we want. But do we spend any time enjoying the cards once we have them? It seems like once I got a card that I liked, it would be tucked away in a nine-pocket page or filed into a box, seldom to be seen again.

That is understandable, since exposure to light over a long period of time can cause cards to fade. But recently, I got into the wonderful practice of putting my favorite cards on display. Here’s how you can safely display your favorite sports or gaming cards to show off to your friends and family – or just to enjoy having in your collection. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog.

How to Prevent Your Sports Cards from Bricking

Longtime collectors remember when sports cards started using a high-gloss protective coating in the early 1990s. This coating – known as UV coating – gave the cards like Fleer Ultra and Topps Stadium Club a slick, premium feel to them. Collectors loved it!. But this eventually led to a problem called “bricking.”

Bricking is when cards get stuck together in a stack resembling a brick. And once they brick, they are hard to unstick. Read on to learn why cards stick together, what to do if they brick, and how to prevent that from happening in the first place. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog.

Finding the Right Pages to Store Your Odd-Sized Trading Card Collection

If you are like me, you enjoy putting your trading cards in pages and albums, so you can protect your collection in a way that also lets you easily look at it. But one point of frustration for collectors is when they come across cards that are not the standard 2-1/2” by 3-1/2” size. What’s a card collector supposed to do with postcards, odd-sized team-issued cards, or even cards that are just a touch larger than normal size? Fortunately, BCW has you – and your cards – covered, as it has archival-safe pages that will fit almost any collectible.

The goal of putting your cards in pages is to protect them with as little “wiggle” room as possible, because you do not want the card to shift around or slide out of the pockets when you are flipping through a binder. Here’s a breakdown of the different pages that BCW has available to store your collection of odd-sized cards. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog. 

Ticket Stubs: The Hobby’s Hottest Collectible

How the pandemic and professional grading have made ticket stub collecting more popular than ever.

While trading cards may always be number one among sports memorabilia enthusiasts, ticket stub collecting has gradually heated up over the past two years. It has done so for two reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic and grading companies have both made collecting physical ticket stubs more popular than ever. However, digital ticketing may erode some of that enthusiasm – but maybe not for long.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first caused shutdowns and “shelter at home” orders in March 2020, many people started at-home hobbies. Some discovered, or rediscovered, sports card collecting, causing cards to surge in popularity and price over the past two years. Then, ticket stubs experienced its own uptick in interest.

“The pandemic got more people to look at their ticket stubs and see if they could sell them on eBay,” said Paul White, who has collected ticket stubs for 30 years. “People wanted to see if their ticket stubs are worth something, and to some people, they are. I’ve actually found more ticket stubs on eBay since the pandemic, which has been a benefit.” Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog. 

How to Remove Tape from Trading Card Top Loaders

One of the biggest pet peeves in the trading card hobby is the so-called “tape loader” — a perfectly-good trading card top loader that has clear tape stuck to the top of it. This is done to keep a card from sliding out of the top loader when sent in the mail. While that seems courteous of the sender, the problem is that it pretty much ruins the top loader. Peel off the tape and it leaves behind a sticky residue that will transfer to other top loaders that it is stored with. Leave the tape on and it becomes a trading card supply that you don’t want to look at. Either way, it’s pretty much useless. Price tags adhered to top loaders also cause a similar conundrum. 

Many times, I’d just throw out a sullied top loader. That made sense when a 25-pack of top loaders cost $4 or $5. Who wants to spend time trying to salvage something that could be replaced so cheaply? 

But now, standard-sized top loaders cost upwards of $10 per pack — if you can find them.  Top loaders for jersey and game-used cards cost more. Top loaders are too expensive to throw out these days and are actually worth cleaning and re-using. 

Here is how you can get rid of tape and tape residue from top loaders and make them as good as new.

Continue reading “How to Remove Tape from Trading Card Top Loaders”

How to Organize Your Ticket Stub and Pocket Schedule Collection

I loved saving the ticket stubs from the Chicago Blackhawks hockey games I went to when I was a kid. Each time I went to a game, I was sure to bring my stub to school the next day to show off to my friends and prove that I was there.

Sometimes the games were important – all-star or playoff games – and sometimes it was just a Tuesday night regular season game. Regardless, it was cool to just go and then have that small, visual reminder that I could look back at.

Over the years, I have also saved pocket schedules, rosters, lineup cards, score cards and any other piece of game or team-related memorabilia I could find. I even saved concert ticket and movie ticket stubs. After a while, all of that started to add up, so I had to get it organized. BCW makes many different sizes of pocket pages that will fit almost any “non-card” collectible you may have. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog.