I’m new to collecting and am trying to decide between storing my rarer cards in toploaders or binders. I’m leaning towards toploaders, because when looking at my cards, I like to flip through cards one at a time without being distracted by other cards.
Anyone have a preference for one storage method over the other, and what’s the rationale behind it?
As far as optimal card preservation is concerned, both methods are fine (if used/stored correctly). It just depends on how you prefer to view your collection.
Personally, I prefer viewing my collection in binders.
I prefer binders for viewing my modern/full art collection because that’s the way I set it up, it’s all colour coordinated/ordered by date of release and everything haha. As for everything else, I used to use top loaders and they’re still fine, they do the trick and you can put them in team bags if you’re really keen on it. However I moved to semi rigids because they save so much space. Literally cut down the amount of storage I needed by ~50% when I was done moving everything into them. I live in a pretty cool and dry place so humidity isn’t a concern and I monitor/control it with silica packets and a sensor.
Nothing quite beats the satisfaction of flipping through a binder of cards you’ve procured over the years, it’s just so aesthetically pleasing, accessible, easy to transport, and store. Graded cards are more difficult to store/display and take out to marvel at most of time (for me at least) and I have the personal belief that graded cards are more so to maintain or increase the monetary value of your cards for when you sell them down the road. Although, I’m the type of collector who doesn’t plan to sell the majority of their cards, at least not in the near future.
I’m perfectly content with preserving my cards in a binder though. I have a decent collection of slabbed cards but I don’t get quite the same satisfaction that I do, filling out pages of a binder and looking through it that I do from slabbed cards. I’ll still grade cards, but no where near as much compared to my binder cards and if I only have one copy of a specific card, I’d much prefer it to remain in the binder.
-Steven
I like a binder when it encompasses a full set or has a theme to it so for many of my rare cards I keep them toploaded and that works just fine for me. If you’re looking to enjoy one card at a time like you said then toploaders sound like your kind of option 
Binders all the way. Having the right sleeves too makes a difference as well.
Just make sure that your not using binders with rings as they can damage your cards.
I prefer binders as well. Especially with sets. It’s nice to view them all as complete number order. A card in a binder and a card in a card saver or toploader ages the same, it’s all about how you handle and store them. If you have that security and care for them properly how they sit unhandled won’t be a huge factor.
If you’re going to go the binder route, stick the really valuable cards in the middle spot for safety. People say binder rings damage/ dent cards on the left side of the page, but I’ve never had this problem personally.
If you’re going to do toploaders, sleeve cards first and also store toploaders in a closed container.
Does anyone put their toploaders INSIDE a binder? I found this company GEMLOADER who makes a binder specifically for this. I’ve been running 2 of them for about a year now and so far they’ve been very solid.
Pros: Extra protection, easy to slide top loaders in and out, high quality with zipper, no 3 ring damage
Cons: $75 per binder w tax/shipping to NY, binder is roughly 1.5 - 2X bigger than a typical binder, extra black space between the lines (objectively less clean looking than a regular binder)
I’ve actually never had a regular binder. Do any of you guys have issues with denting or bending your cards in a regular binder as you flip through pages? Specifically the corner cards. I’m afraid penny sleeves in a binder aren’t enough protection but interested to hear what you guys think?
For me, the less between my eyes and the card, the better. Toploaders accrue scratches and fogging easily, and that, compounded by the weight and cumbersomeness of that style of binder wouldn’t jive. It’s just excessive to me.
But to answer your question, the only way cards get dented is from the pressure of the pages in a circular ring binder being pressed under/against the ring. When a card is dented on the bottom, it’s because it was sitting over the top half of the ring curve, and usually pressured by the weight of the binder cover. When dented on the top, it is because in the same fashion it is tucked under the bottom curve of the ring and the other pages providing that pressure. As kids we saw this with overstuffed binders. This is primarily the issue with circular ring binders and overstuffing them / not storing correctly. Even if circle rings aren’t over-capacity, the pages can still get tucked in a sideways U fashion, just from th way it can be closed, and get pressured and dented. It’s just the way those binders work. Not meant to store cards.
Top pages will get cards bottom dented, bottom pages as you can see will be top dented from being under the ring curve and weighted by other pages etc.
This is why the only way to seriously consider storing valuable cards with a ring binder is a D ring binder. Stored flat, not like a book on a shelf. With a D ring, the pages, as long as they are not over capacity in relation to the binder size, will always be aligned flush with the straight line on the ring, and not ever get over or under the curve of a circle ring. The pages will be stacked perfectly, more or less, as if one were to stack those pages on a desk without any binder. And yes, when I flip through them, for good measure, I do not carelessly drag them over the ring. I turn the page with care so that it goes up and over all the way. This method cannot dent cards. And it allows you to have transparent pages, seeing the backs of your cards, and maintaining that nice aesthetic.
Quality, sturdy D ring binder and nice 9 pocket pages (for me nothing is better than black duck brand pages, crystal clear, nice glossy feel to them) will run you a mere $10-15. When I’m not using the standard zipper binders that have black pages, I use my D ring binders, particularly when I like seeing the backs of cards (like is with the case of old back).
I think it absolutely comes down to personal preference, but there’s something special about seeing a sequence of cards in a binder imo, they complement each other well and each page serves as its own little mosaic.
If you’re collecting a few cards from different eras however, and you feel they may not gel alongside each other in a binder, toploaders might be the way to go.
