What's the most efficient way to sort cards?

zep33

I'm working through about 30 boxes of Heritage cards trying to get them sorted and this is an absolute nightmare

The way I'm doing it is putting them in piles of cards 1-50, 50-100 and so on and then sort those piles.

how do you guys do it?

mikeschmidt

depends on the size of the set and how many cards I have to sort.

But, on a larger set...first by hundreds, then by 10s, and then into groups

Skinpinch

You are bringing back nightmares!!

I remember staring at cases of early/mid 80's topps vending boxes and knowing that I had to sort them into sets!

I too got them all into 100's first...

Then the hundreds into 1-9, 10-19, 20-29...and so on.

Then I took the 1-9's and got them down to each card...a stack of #1's, a stack of #2's and so on....

THen from there I would start making SET stacks and be on my way to building multiple sets. It always sucked when the last couple sets had a number that wasn't there, so I had to turn the card before it sideways in the stack so that I knew the set was missing a number.

The short answer is that there is no easy way to sort. It takes time. But that system was pretty 'efficient' for sorting multiple sets.

I remeber somebody made a box with compartments to just drop the cards in...it is no wonder when you look at your sets from 1984 that many cards have touches on a corner.

kcballboy

I perfected my method one time while building my 88 topps set. I started by plugging the cards into a binder until I had a complete set.

Then I threw the rest away.

After a while I threw the set away too.

Not sure if I have any recommendations for a set worth more than $5.

zep33

see I figured I had too many to get them into hundreds (only 495 in the set and probably over 5000 to sort now)
so i started with 10 piles of 50s. Think I got about 4 more boxes to get in to that count then i can start breaking them down in to 10s

I'm not building multiple sets with these. These are all my doubles from the 1 set I wanted (and still haven't completed LOL) I just want to be able to easily find all my SPs and variations and start recouping some of the money I blew on all this.

thanks

TheVon

This doesn't sound like it'll help for your situation too much, but my preferred method goes something like this:

1. Open box.
2. Insert cards.
3. Close box.
4. Label

Then years later I can look through the box and rediscover all the gems I didn't know about before.

cjb1977

I personally sort as follows: I set up stacks 0-9 according to the last digit. Then I resort those 0-9 via the second digit. After that I resort those via the first number. At the end you only touch each card 3 times and they will be numeric order.

meuandthelot

^^^Is the way, except the last sort you start sorting with the 9 pile.

stitzen

I, too, break them down into 100's, then 10s.

jerrywest45

I outsource sorting to India...It helps the world economy.


JW

Ilovebaseballcards

<< <i>I personally sort as follows: I set up stacks 0-9 according to the last digit. Then I resort those 0-9 via the second digit. After that I resort those via the first number. At the end you only touch each card 3 times and they will be numeric order. >>

i like it. my next sort will be much easier now. thanks!

jerrywest45

Weather you do it 0-9 or hundreds, tens, ones...you still only touch the cards three times. Both ways are equal...

Do I need to drop some equations on your asses????

CDsNuts

OK, I can help you here. I have a system that will save you 50% of your time. Separate the even numbers and put them in order. Now take the odd numbers and put them in order. Now take both stacks, place them side by side and perform a perfect shuffle.

Lee

metalmike

Wow- I tried Lee's method and damn it works! what would you expect of a guy who knows french canadian after all those pack busts? la grande metal

julen23

i know some david blaine -ish.

i can make a joe namath RC appear in your beer.

julenn

marz

let the old lady or kids sort em!

that's what I do!