Who invented card holders and what year?

italianstallionyankees

I can't find my question anywhere anybody know this answer?? Thanks

SoonerCowboy

If my memory serves me right I believe the first time I saw a card holder was in 1982. Semi-rigid holders I have no idea because I had a 10 year break between 1987-1997.

schr1st

According to Carboard Gold's site, Card Savers have been around since 1986

ChrisStufflestreet

<< <i>According to Carboard Gold's site, Card Savers have been around since 1986 >>



Even if Card Savers came out in 1986, there was a similar type of semi-rigid holder I got with a hobby collecting kit around 1983 (the same kit that had those reprints of Wagner, Plank and Magie T206s, a T207 Lewis and the Goudey LaJoie). It didn't have the brand name on it, and I'm willing to say the plastic card holders much like what we now know as Card Savers have likely been around since at least the late 1970s.

Just went and pulled out my "Guide to Baseball Card Collecting" from that hobby kit (yes, I still have the book). It's copyrighted 1982 by Hygrade Sports Cards Co. and has a NYC address. On page 12 is "Tools of the Collector" and a plastic/vinyl card holder is shown there.

lsutigers1973

I did it in the parlor room with a rope.

slantycouch

<< <i>
Just went and pulled out my "Guide to Baseball Card Collecting" from that hobby kit (yes, I still have the book). It's copyrighted 1982 by Hygrade Sports Cards Co. and has a NYC address. On page 12 is "Tools of the Collector" and a plastic/vinyl card holder is shown there. >>



Man that brings back some memories.

Bosox1976

Sir John Crapper.

PowderedH2O

I had some rigid card savers from Den's Collectors Den that I bought from SCD in 1980. They were kinda like the PSA holders, except that they were a lot heavier as I recall. At 25 cents each, I could only afford them for my really good cards back then.

Sam

WinPitcher

The first top loaders that i ever saw was in 1979.



Just before that i remember seeing pages for the first time.


Steve

TomGshotput

1845

Reljac

I think Al Gore invented them as a side project while working on the internet!!!

italianstallionyankees

Thanks , I'm trying to figure out when it really started to be popular . Being not in my thirties I am unaware of how cards were handled in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Were dealers back in the late 1970's worried about condition and preserving cards? Thanks again

reelinintheyears

Before card savers, collectors kept their good cards in 3-ring binders (9 cards per page), which you can still buy. Some people put two cards back to back in each slot, although you couldn't read the backs of the cards that way. I still have my first binder from the '70's when I began collecting, although not all of the cards in it are from back then. I never used card savers until I began collecting again a few years ago.

WinPitcher

"Were dealers back in the late 1970's worried about condition and preserving cards? Thanks again"


Of course they were. All this plastic stuff for containing cards came from the coin collectors/dealers

It really took off in the early 80's with just about everything you have now being used.


Back to condition, sellers of stamps and coins and cards (and whatever else you can think of) were always concerned with condition.

The better the condition, the higher the price. Even if it was only a dollar difference.

Steve

mtcards

<< <i>I think Al Gore invented them as a side project while working on the internet!!! >>



Someone beat me to it

lawnmowerman

<< <i>I did it in the parlor room with a rope. >>



Didn't that hurt?

ChrisStufflestreet

<< <i>Thanks , I'm trying to figure out when it really started to be popular . Being not in my thirties I am unaware of how cards were handled in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Were dealers back in the late 1970's worried about condition and preserving cards? Thanks again >>



Speaking with a true "old school" collector (back from the time when cards were kids' stuff and people looked funny at any collector over 14), I was told that some adult collectors used small file cabinets that looked a lot like the old card catalogs in libraries. They'd use 3x5 index cards to separate the sets/subjects.

Another old-school collector (Lionel Carter, who recently passed away) kept his collection in binders, using hinges on the corners to hold them in place. This was a lot better on the cards than what Jefferson Burdick (the guy who wrote the American Card Catalog and named the sets we now know as T206, e95, etc.): when he donated his collection to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, he physically pasted each card into a scrapbook. However, Carter was very specific about keeping his cards in good shape and Burdick had a philosophy that said the subjects on the cards were more important than how they presented.

I just realized...if you're not yet in your 30s...you may not have actually used a card catalog at the library that wasn't part of a computer database.

EB22

Good question, i've wondered that too...

Stone193

<< <i>

<< <i>I did it in the parlor room with a rope. >>



Didn't that hurt? >>

Now that's funny.

mike

Stone193

I just checked the American Card Catalog - 1960 - to see what was available?

The only ad I found was for high quality album pages with precut slots for cards.

mike

MULLINS5

I've heard in Japan around 1910 (early 20th century) cards were placed in a toploader kind of holder. As far as who invented them...no idea.