One of the most overlooked aspects of the hobby is how to safely store and protect your sports card collection. How do you ensure that the pack-fresh Vintage Breaks pull you just added to your PC stays pack-fresh? You'll often hear us say terms like "card saver it" or "penny sleeve that card." Let’s review what those terms mean and teach you a critical aspect of the hobby: card protection.
Often during our live shows you'll notice our breakers using various holders to place your pulls into. When you buy into our card breaks, we like to make certain your big hits are protected. Nothing is worse than getting your fire pull in the mail and there are three dinged corners, right? You may hear S10 yell "Card Saver that!" or Matty Ice asking J5 for a "One-Touch." Depending on the card size, thickness, and of course the value, we want to protect that hit.
WHAT DOES VINTAGE BREAKS RECCOMEND FOR STORAGE?
Here are some of the materials that you will see VB use you to protect your cards during a break. These are the holders you may want to consider when you're storing your valuable sports cards.
PENNY SLEEVES
These are thin, clear holders that fit like a sleeve right over your card. Penny sleeves are not hard-plastic holders but are soft and often used as secondary protection when using some of the other harder and more sturdy holders you'll read about. Penny sleeves get their nickname from the cost; you can generally find 100 penny sleeves for $1.00 - one penny per sleeve. Matty Ice is here placing 1978 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards into a penny sleeve:
CARD SAVERS
These are one of our favorite holders in the hobby. Like most holders you see here, Card Savers will come in a variety of sizes. The most frequently-used holder is the Card Saver 1 as that's the preferred holder of grading companies like PSA, SGC, and Beckett. Card Savers are harder than a penny sleeve but still soft enough to open the holder and slide your card in without damaging corners. Card Savers hold your card perfectly in place once inside. The smooth sounds of Charlie G on WB West puts a Mark McGwire 1987 Leaf Rated Rookie in a penny sleeve first, but then inside the Card Saver:
TOP LOADERS
Much harder than Card Savers or Penny Sleeves, the Top Loader is made with thicker plastic. The opening is wider than the Card Saver so we recommend using a penny sleeve on your card first, then inserting your card into a Top Loader. Your card has a chance of sliding around and dinging corners without the penny sleeve here. Top Loaders are pretty popular to store your cards that you aren't pondering about having grading. Gilmore down in VB South heard wind of the North's S10 pulling a dual patch of Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig from Panini Flawless baseball, so he pulled one of his own for you! Here is the pull and watch Gilmore put this card into first a penny sleeve, and then a top loader:
ONE TOUCH
One-touch holders are a pretty smooth way to protect and display your card.. There are two pieces that have a slide-in hinge and a magnet that closes the two pieces. A one-touch will keep your card safe and looks nice on the shelf! You'll see us put National Treasures booklet cards or thick cards into these one touch holders. Gilmore mentioned hitting the red banger with Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig patches. Here is S10 pulling that red variation and placing the card in a one-touch:
What we love about the holders above is that each come in various sizes! Whether you're looking to put your 1969 Topps Basketball Tall Boys in a holder or that Derek Jeter 2022 Topps RIP mini auto, there is a holder in that size, we have them here at Vintage Breaks to protect your pulls! We do provide holders for you when we pull and ship your cards; that's just one of the many perk of breaking with us here at Vintage Breaks. So there you have it, Break-a-Maniacs – keep those cards and collections safe!
If you're looking to pull your next big card, we're here for you. We have card breaks in every sport, non-sports, and even Pokémon. Window shop any time here:
WHY CHOOSE VINTAGE BREAKS?
Vintage Breaks offers THE BEST VALUE IN BREAKING.
When you check out for a spot on the site, the price you see is the price you pay. Taxes and shipping are included! Your cards always come protected in holders. The last time you mailed a package out had to have set you back more than three bucks, right? If you buy a $3.00 spot, you get your card holdered and shipped for that price.
Lack of product in stores has been a problem; we see the same empty shelves that you do. If you can't find cards, Vintage Breaks is your solution.
FUN! Cards are our passion! Isn't is just more fun to chat with other collectors? Come hang with us and other collectors just like you during our breaks!
A Vintage Breaks, we have our main breaking show in New Jersey (The North), to go with our night owls in the South (Georgia), and the West (Arizona). You can always check our CALENDAR to see when we're breaking.
VINTAGE BREAKS IS BUYING!
If you have sealed wax, vintage or modern, that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. We're always interested in both sealed product of both sport and non-sport. Whether you have that pack of 1977 Star Wars, that rare 1955 Bowman cello pack, a wax box of 1984 Topps football, Pokémon, or 2019 Panini National Treasures basketball you'd like to sell, we'd love to hear from you!
CONTACT US ANY TIME
If you have any questions about a product, break, shipping, or even if you're interested in SELLING a collection, reach out any time!