How do you enjoy your cards?
cb42
Posts: 34 ✭✭
Perhaps this topic is a bit different for this forum, but how do you enjoy your cards? I ask because I am pondering this question myself. I have cards in boxes and cards in binder. The boxes haven't been opened in decades. The binders only a little more frequently than that. That seems silly. I am thinking of getting some wall-mounted card displays so that I can see some of my favorites on a regular basis. I think that would be fun.
Going that route raises the question of whether to display graded or ungraded cards (e.g. in one-touch holders). I actually don't own any graded cards, although I have been considering sending some in. But then I have to ask myself, why am I getting them graded? Of course it would be cool to have some highly graded cards; there is some satisfaction in that. But it seems like a major motivation for grading cards is to establish their value, which is helpful if you are selling them. I don't expect to sell many cards unless they are duplicates.
Anyway, I hope you chime in with your thoughts! If you have some cool ways you display or view your cards, feel free to share!
Comments
Every time i add a few cards I scan them and enjoy the process of putting them away necessitating making room in each box until the last as all my graded cards are in year and number order. I always look at every card from at least the year of the new card to see them all together.
@brad31 I scan them, too, and I like looking at them. But then they go in a box. I was reading another thread elsewhere in which some folks were extolling the virtues of binders because they could easily browse their cards whenever they want---at least, more easily than pulling things from boxes. That makes sense. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a display or two to display some favorites. I think it would be fun to see them every single day. :-)
I would love to get a large display case or a card room like some members have shown on this forum, but I don't have the space or funds for that yet. I have my collection in several boxes and binders and sadly only view them when I purchase an upgrade and/or a new card I need. My entire collection is stored in an unused closet but at least this closet has shelving and a light.
I never display anything that’s important to me because over time colors will definitely fade from even minimal light exposure. I have some framed comic book covers in my living room which are not exposed to direct sunlight, and over the course of 10 years they have significantly faded.
That said, I look at my sets over and over again.
I keep my cards in a safe deposit box after scanning and use Collector Focus under the handle Monte’s Monets thru the eyes of Topps and Bowman to view my collection online.
I second @PaulMaul's post. I only display cards i like of very minimal value as they will fade over time even from indirect light. I take digital images of my graded cards and look at them quite often. otherwise they are locked away in a large vault. I will take them out a few time a year to look at them, but I get enjoyment out of knowing I have acquired them.
raw cards/sets of lesser value are all bindered and on a bookshelf. I have lots of player "collections" that i enjoy looking through.
but, keep in mind, there is no "right" way to collect. do whichever makes you most happy
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
My raw cards are in 3 ring binders, top loaders, or magnetics. All autographed cards are in magnetics. Graded cards are in a box or a Zion case. A handful of cards are displayed in my tiny office, on stands. I have a 2' x 2.5' display case that holds about 25-30 graded cards. I rotate all the displayed cards every 2-3 months to minimize light damage.
Most of my cards are raw and in 800 count boxes. I will grab, say, my 1977 Topps baseball set and look through like 100 a day for week and then return it to the collection. I probably spend most days in each week looking through some aspect of my collection.
Thanks for the responses. The concern about fading is a valid one. For extremely valuable cards, it seems like the best course is to never let them see the light of day. For me, that might be a card valued at $1000 or more. Not sure I actually have any of those. I've noticed that some displays claim to use UV-protection acrylic glass, so there's that. How truly effective those are, I don't know. Perhaps an option would be to replace the glass in the display case with museum glass or other high-quality UV glass from a frame shop.
I have a signed Sandy Koufax Life magazine (back when you could get an item signed by Koufax for $25) and it has been hung on the wall for three decades. Of course, I don't have a way to compare what it looks like today to when it was originally hung on the wall, but it is still very presentable. But we're not talking about a card worth thousands here. And I have to say, we have a lot of artwork on the walls. It would be a dreary house indeed if we didn't have artwork to look at.
But the question of fading raises an interesting point for me: Do PSA or the other grading services have a "faded" qualifier? You know, like PSA will assign the "PD" qualifier, in addition to the grade, for a print defect. What if a card is worthy of grade 9 except that it is faded?
Worse, suppose you get your card graded and it comes back PSA 9. You then display it for years and it fades. It's still encased in a PSA 9 slab but is no longer in the same condition in which it was originally graded. And yet, people routinely assign value based on the original PSA grade.
@craig44 wrote, "I will take them out a few time a year to look at them, but I get enjoyment out of knowing I have acquired them." Yeah, I get enjoyment out of acquiring them too. I guess that's the "collector's gene" in us. :-)
How do you enjoy your cards?
with Unique Backgrounds...
How do you enjoy your cards?
With a fine chianti
I display anything and everything and rotate it all. No sunlight room, minimal incandescent lighting. Room has a stadium effect and I like having the occasional pop in visitor check it out for the "oh my God holy ********** I could live here!" reaction.No issues over the last dozen years with anything save for a PSA 9 Eric Dickerson RC meeting the floor at a catastrophic angle
. I do it because back in the day I didn't. For me, this is best. I like having people enjoy my effort. Others mileage may vary. 
I enjoy mine most when they are PSA 10
Post some pictures of your room. I'd love to see it. I also like to idea of having things out and available to see. That's what I'm going to do when we get moved into our new place.
Very good question...
Does come up from time to time here.
Unfortunately, I fall into the category of not giving much love to my collection like I should. I run in spurts along with posting. Years ago I was way more active; reflective of both collectibles and posting.
I'm like you. I collect and put things in boxes, where they tend to stay. I'm hoping to change that!
Safe deposit box but I have them scanned on Collectors Focus as others. Love seeing them when I do check them out a couple to a few times a year. I do collect autographs which I do obtain myself (a lot cheaper too) and so I still get to enjoy those, which I keep 'em in my home. Those I have on my IG, which is also easy to view online.
Link in case anyone wants to see raw signed card. I do have quite a few of them holdered and also in the safe deposit box too.
https://instagram.com/ttm_marc/
Unfortunately I'm flat broke at the moment but it would be fun to get my Topps sequence (up to 2013 at the moment) caught up some. See, I personally think it's a LOT of fun to open a Topps factory set, sort them (I think even today they're not sorted already?) and put them in an album...and have kitty sitting next to me watching
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
Very interesting post. I have by sets a lot. I bet I have 200 or more, heck maybe more. I haven't looked through 10% of them. I put some of them together (not many) and that was kind of cool. Just put 4 1968 topps game sets together and that was neat.
But overall your point is interesting. We collect a lot of stuff, how do you enjoy the stuff, hmmm. Im not sure that I really spend alot of time just looking over the cards, like I did when I was 10.
Got me to thinking.
Maybe the "HUNT" is the most important aspect of the "process" of participating in our hobby along with cataloging and then moving on?
I like the hunt for exceptional eye appeal...
Stone and minton are onto something, the hunt for the nice set, the nice card, the rare card, the centered card -- I think i fall into that category. Plus I would say -- I look at some of my collecting as investing.
I agree. It's like there's this rush of satisfaction in getting the card you want. Then it goes into a box and it's on to the next one. :-)
I've been thinking about this lately. I think for me, it's probably the hunt. I have whittled my collection way down over the years and I moved to PSA graded NFL HOFers during COVID. I crossed over many Beckett graded cards to PSA and sold the rest. I have a case on the wall that holds 10 BVG graded Jim Brown cards that I see daily but the rest are stored away in boxes I bought for graded cards. My goal when I first started with PSA was to build the set of HOF RCs, well at my age that will never happen as I started way too late for it to be financially feasible. I have around 60% of the set completed but know it will never get finished so I ask myself why am I "collecting" cards that I never see? This question I continue to ponder :-)
NFL HOF Set
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/398345
I look at my cards online at Collector Focus multiple times per week…sometimes placing cards I’m hunting in the collection to see how it would look with my collection. Then…the hunt begins to make it a reality.
The best way to view and enjoy a card is in a CS1. Nothing else comes close - thin, clear, space around the card. Not a fan of toploaders at all.
For binder cards, I have my premium sets in Ultimate Guard 4x4 binders. Cards look great against the black background and the 4 wide, 16 per page is dope.
I just did a podcast episode on this recently, I believe! Several ways ....
There are so many ways to enjoy cards. I love it!
I found this paper I wrote on collecting many years ago - if ya have the time? Ya might find it interesting?
LINK
This^^^^^^^^^ there are times that I will not buy anything for a few weeks and force myself to look at/appreciate the things I already have.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Only just a few weeks. Want to join me in CARD COLLECTORS ANONYMOUS. I hear there has been a very bad outbreak of
CONTAGIOUS CARD COLLECTORS and everyone on here might want to seek counseling immediately.
My most valuable cards and sets (graded) are in albums in graded card sheets. When I made this transformation, it re-energized me and got me to collect more than ever, since I can (and do) look at them way more often. Having my cards stacked up in boxes where I never saw them had caused me to lose interest in collecting.
Late 60's and early to mid 70's non-sports
I occasionally go back and look at them. This may sound weird, but the main joy for me is thinking that if I pass away my wife will find them and realize that I've left her something valuable she can sell. She knows I collect cards but has no idea what my collection would fetch if sold.
I'd always thought I'd give them to my son at some point. However, he's had a very successful career and doesn't need the money at all.
Everything is not about money.
Who knows maybe if you passed your son might take up card collecting, or maybe your wife keeps them to look at them with your son and leave them to grand kids. Sometimes you just never know.
Of course, there are different kinds of collectors. Some may be more properly classified as investors, so their collecting, if you can call it that, is based more on value and potential gain than anything else.
For me, I subscribe to the motto, collect what you like. As far as my heirs having to deal with my collection, yes, they will, unless I eventually decide to liquidate it myself. But that is not the criterion I use to collect.