I went about 10 days without heat. We used some space heaters, but it was still cold in most rooms. Now, I've got heat and I hope to sleep better at night.
What is best for the Kellogg's cards? Is it the heat vs. cold or is it the humidity?
I still haven't read any tricks to getting rid of cracks on Kellogg's cards. Any ideas?
Can't imagine heat being better than cold in regards to Kellogg's... but I could be wrong. I'm not an expert, but I think storage is the key. I've purchased a few 1978 to 1981 sets and singles... and noticed that when these things have been allowed to curl, they're very prone to crack. On the other hand, the set I purchased that was stored in top loaders didn't have many issues with cracking. Personally... I'm going to try and store my cards as flat as possible from this point forward.
ReplyDeleteI've had at least half of my Kellogg's collection for over 25 years now. Only one PSA graded card has ever shown a crack inside the holder after grading. It's my PSA 10 #1 from the 1975 set and the crack is tiny. It drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of my collection is in the thin plastic sleeves and top loaders. I have had a few curled cards crack after I've placed them in sleeves and top loaders. I remember before ebay I searched for a year for an uncracked Ernie Banks. It was the last card I needed for a full set. I finally found one - no cracks but curled. Flattened it and it cracked within a week. I've also had a few crack that were always flat.
But after 25 years almost none of the cards I've stored flat or PSA have cracked. I keep them in an interior closet in boxes in the dark. I think the temperature varies between 60-80 degrees, but no sudden changes.
If you google this question and talk to collectors you will hear lots of theories. Some of the people who sold me their collections believed that all Kellogg's cards will eventually crack. This is probably true, but probably not in our lifetimes. I read an engineer claim once that the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE - how the size of a substance changes with temperature) is the Kellogg card problem. The difference in CTE of the paper and plastic causes the cracking due to temperature change. Sounds plausible.
I think extreme heat, cold or temperature change would be a bad idea. I don't like to buy Kelloggs in the heat of the summer although I've never bought an uncracked card on ebay and have it show up cracked. Lucky I guess.
My collection from my childhood were almost all cracked beyond recognition when my mother stored them in her attic. But two or three survived and I still have them.
In the end, I love these cards. You just need to be careful how they are stored. Even a regular card can be damaged from too much light.
Repairing a cracked card? No idea what that would take.
I'm scared to look at some of my cards after reading some horror stories online. I store mine like you do. I hope to go through all of my cards over the holidays to decide if I need to store any of them differently.
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