Top Loaders From Days Gone By

[possom813]

I've been going through and sorting out my old boxes of 80s and 90s stars, breaking down sets and pulling the key cards and whatnot the last few days.

When I was a kid, the old man and I collected together. His money, my cards :)!

He kept a box though. We had a walk-in closet with all of our sets and cards stacked in the old box locker shelves.

But his box, he kept it on top of the box lockers. He had cut the lid off to stand the cards up in toploaders. I didn't think much of it when I moved all of the cards to my house after he passed. That box went into a bigger box and into storage.

I pulled it out today to start pulling cards out of the top loaders and sorting out what's worth holding on to and what's not.

I also pulled down one of my boxes, that was closed up, that also had Griffeys in loaders.

Here's the difference in top loaders from a smoking household in the late 80's early 90's.

The 2 on the left were in the old man's box, the top right was in my box of Griffeys and the bottom right is a brand new one fresh from the package.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50749963136_266d6c71ca_z.jpg

[discodanman45]

About 25% of my toploaders from the 80's and 90's were just as yellow in a non-smoking household. Had all my cards in penny sleeves and we're scared that my cards were ruined. Ugly toploaders and cards were the same.

[possom813]

Really? Pretty interesting, I thought it had to do with the parent's 2-3 pack a day habit.

[jchcollins]

I have a few yellow “survivors” from the late 80’s / early 90’s as well. I was not under the impression it came from smoking. Interesting though…


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[rngrdanny22]

Looks like the stages of dehydration...

[LCM1223]

I always assumed it was the climate/conditions they were stored in

[smapdi]

Pretty sure it's the formulation of the plastic. Until I went on a top-loader replacement mission last year, I had some ancient toploaders that look like the top left one, and I'm pretty sure they were from some of my first purchases when I got back into cards in 1991. I don't think smoking would turn the whole holder universally yellow unless they were laid out flat for years. Pushed together in a box, even without a lid, should protect at least the bottom half. Plus, I don't smoke.

[Saraste]

Over the years I have seen a bunch like the ones on the left. I have also had a bunch that were yellowing on one or more of the edges but was still clear in the middle.

[oldwiseguy]

I believe all top loaders are made in China which would explain why they don’t last and are probably cheap quality. Does anyone know if there are any top loaders made in the USA? The quality of the product might be better than made in China crap.

[hairysasquatch]

Smoke certainly doesn't help, but I don't smoke and have a number of older ones that have yellowed. Must have to do with the chemical compound of the plastic.

[salas1991]

Just got rid of what I think was the last of my yellow toploaders a few months back, had a 1994 Topps Gold Piazza/Delgado. :D

[possom813]

Just got rid of what I think was the last of my yellow toploaders a few months back, had a 1994 Topps Gold Piazza/Delgado. :D

Was it still gold when you took it out of the loader?

[GOTcollector]

I have a bunch of "Grosnor Ultra Clear" 9 pocket pages in a binder full of old junk sports cards from the early 90's. Theyve completely yellowed (non smoking) but i pulled out a card from one of the pages the other day and the card still looks mint.

Also have a bunch of ultra pro pages from the same era in the same binder that are completely clear.

[dictoresno]

its not necessarily due to smoking though it probably won't help. but PVC plastics undergo thermal and photooxidation. over time, its reactions to different impurities in the plastic and the air, cause UV light to degrade it and in turn, yellow it.

same thing happens to acetate cards over time, like the old Dunk-And-Go-Nuts basketball set. they heavily yellow over time if not cared for and kept out of light.

[scotthenrichs]

Yellowing doesn’t really hurt the card, I had this Jordan in this top loader from 1991-2020 with no sleeve before putting it in a new top loader, and you can see how white it still is.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7864/46721887034_8262581e2c_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ebDTfs)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2ebDTfs) by sah0620 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/34336048@N04/), on Flickr

[OscarOne]

I am in Hawaii--so nice weather, not a ton of humidity--and in a home with no smokers. I still get some go yellow on me. Does not seem to bug the card, though.

[mjohnatgt]

Yeah, the yellowing is due to the acid or decaying of the early plastics used in toploaders. That's why they almost always say "acid-free" or "archival" on the package now.

[CicadaMound]

Which brand of toploaders is advertised as "acid free" or "archival"? BCW and SafTGuard explicitly say theirs are made of PVC, Ultra-Pro and Cardboard Gold don't disclose the material. Cardboard Gold Card Savers are described as "archival" but they're not toploaders.

[dictoresno]

Which brand of toploaders is advertised as "acid free" or "archival"? BCW and SafTGuard explicitly say theirs are made of PVC, Ultra-Pro and Cardboard Gold don't disclose the material. Cardboard Gold Card Savers are described as "archival" but they're not toploaders.

Ultra Pro penny sleeves are archival, acid free, non-PVC polypropylene since they are supposed to be the item in full contact with the cards. I see no note of top loaders being archival, however hey are listed as being vinyl (PVC assuming). I believe they assume you will always use a penny sleeve between the item and the toploader.

[mjohnatgt]

Which brand of toploaders is advertised as "acid free" or "archival"? BCW and SafTGuard explicitly say theirs are made of PVC, Ultra-Pro and Cardboard Gold don't disclose the material. Cardboard Gold Card Savers are described as "archival" but they're not toploaders.
Ah, I put cardsavers into the same category as "toploaders." Thanks for looking the brands up for me.