Do you ever store your raw books in top loaders ? 0

[Primetime]

Use magazine sized top loaders with super gold Mylars and full back boards. The magazine size loaders give a lot more room. 

[Cat-Man_America]

8 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Personally, I hate toploaders. The books can swim around inside them, resulting in worse damage.

 

But Bob, I doubt they'd flex like that unless you're using top-loaders to exercise your pecs.  

FTR, I don't allow my books to swim around in top-loaders without life jackets (Mylar & backing boards).

[Bomber-Bob]

10 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

But Bob, I doubt they'd flex like that unless you're using top-loaders to exercise your pecs.  

FTR, I don't allow my books to swim around in top-loaders without life jackets (Mylar & backing boards).

Yes, proper 'life jackets' will prevent the movement. I once had a book shipped to me inside a top loader, with a simple bag and board, undersized to the top loader. A couple corners of the book got banged up. It's like putting a book inside a box without wrapping to prevent movement. The concave pic was just an attempt to be funny. I've never actually seen this happen. I think I got this pic from a newbie post. He had gotten a stack of these free and wanted to know if it's okay to store his comics in them. Crazy.

[Cat-Man_America]

On 7/29/2018 at 9:21 AM, Bomber-Bob said:

Yes, proper 'life jackets' will prevent the movement. I once had a book shipped to me inside a top loader, with a simple bag and board, undersized to the top loader. A couple corners of the book got banged up. It's like putting a book inside a box without wrapping to prevent movement. The concave pic was just an attempt to be funny. I've never actually seen this happen. I think I got this pic from a newbie post. He had gotten a stack of these free and wanted to know if it's okay to store his comics in them. Crazy.

It was brilliantly subtle.  

Edited July 30, 2018 by Cat-Man_America
.

[originalisbest]

Top loaders are fine for an extra layer of physical protection, so long as there's mylar and board at the core, and they don't move about easily inside (but you don't want them too snug either -- depending on the book, two backing boards might be one too many.) Thin extender boards might be useful -- basically just common sense should be applied.

[AZOMBIEATEAUNTMAY]

On 7/27/2018 at 12:47 PM, MrBedrock said:

Toploaders are the absolute worst method of storage. Okay for trading cards, terrible for comics. 

Honestly I can't quite understand the statement above when I think of my personal experience with top loaders. Nowadays in the community it seems everyone is crazy about having everything slabbed/graded..etc.. A practice I myself just can't seem to get behind and prefer to use this method instead as I find it's the absolute closet way to slab a book (without the grade) and keep it 100% mint. I quite enjoy being able to re-bag & board my books & then putting the ones I feel are worth it in the top loaders. As I always store my comics in room temperature and in the dark unless I'm reading I've absolutely positively never encountered a warped or yellowed toploader. Mylar is fine if that's what you like but I prefer poly bags as with mylar I can't use my top loaders. But I'm sure each collector does stuff different and I respect each other's opinion but again unless your slabbing every single book , I just can't imagine why top loaders wouldn't be your next logical choice? 🦸‍♀️

[MrBedrock]

3 hours ago, AZOMBIEATEAUNTMAY said:

Honestly I can't quite understand the statement above when I think of my personal experience with top loaders. Nowadays in the community it seems everyone is crazy about having everything slabbed/graded..etc.. A practice I myself just can't seem to get behind and prefer to use this method instead as I find it's the absolute closet way to slab a book (without the grade) and keep it 100% mint. I quite enjoy being able to re-bag & board my books & then putting the ones I feel are worth it in the top loaders. As I always store my comics in room temperature and in the dark unless I'm reading I've absolutely positively never encountered a warped or yellowed toploader. Mylar is fine if that's what you like but I prefer poly bags as with mylar I can't use my top loaders. But I'm sure each collector does stuff different and I respect each other's opinion but again unless your slabbing every single book , I just can't imagine why top loaders wouldn't be your next logical choice? 🦸‍♀️

Two reasons - 1) the plasticizers used in top loaders breakdown quickly causing them to turn yellow and brittle. 2) there is very little room for error when loading them. More spine damage has been caused by the top edges of top loaders. 

They are definitely aesthetically pleasing and using polybags with them helps, but they simply are not a good archival storage product.

[Cobbledclam]

🤡🙈🐒😡

[Cat-Man_America]

18 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

Two reasons - 1) the plasticizers used in top loaders breakdown quickly causing them to turn yellow and brittle. 2) there is very little room for error when loading them. More spine damage has been caused by the top edges of top loaders. 

They are definitely aesthetically pleasing and using polybags with them helps, but they simply are not a good archival storage product.

For non-encapsulated books I’ve used top-loaders for years ...always securing comics with oversized backing boards inside Mylar envelopes first.  What top-loaders provide is added protection for spines and stiff cover shielding without the added weight or thickness of grading service holders.  Also, the open top should allow for off-gassing, but how much that actually helps slow the aging of pulp paper is anybody’s guess.  Of course, using filter paper inside books whenever possible is probably a good idea too.

So far, I haven’t noticed top-loaders yellowing, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t or that I’m missing gradual degradation of the plastic.  In any event, thanks for the heads-up as this is something to watch.

It’s worth noting that some top-loaders are advertised as archival.  Are they? Who knows! I’d love to see some published scientific data from paper archivists who’ve research top-loader plastic on the rate of degradation and risks or cautions for use with fragile pulp paper.  I’d think this information would be of critical value to most collectors, especially anyone still on the fence about this.

My collector’s dream, wish list ...whatever you want to call it... would be for the availability of light weight, definitively archival quality top-loaders for comics and art.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Cat-Man_America
Fixed weird phrasing that, upon reflection, made no sense.

[Cat-Man_America]

6 hours ago, Cobbledclam said:

🤡🙈🐒😡

Hey, social distancing and coronavirus protection in one package!  

[Readcomix]

On July 27, 2018 at 3:08 PM, ExNihilo said:

Ah, I don't know how much silver age books are worth, but I can't imagine copies of Gold Key's Star Trek, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., or the Green Hornet being worth enough to warrant 3 full backs in my particular case.

Mostly no but there's outliers. Certainly Scooby Doo #1 is top of the Gold Key heap, but Star Trek #1 and the Space Ghost one-shot in decent shape are worth a few bucks. Also, Space Family Robinson, while its a real niche, is a tough book.

I'm assuming we're talking late 60's/early 70's TV-based comics; sounds like that was his thing from what you wrote. But Magnus 1 and Dr Solar 1 from the early 60's are nice books if in good shape. A nice Gold Key Peanuts 1 is worth a bit too. 

[Primetime]

3 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

For non-encapsulated books I’ve used top-loaders for years ...always securing comics with oversized backing boards inside Mylar envelopes first.  What top-loaders provide is added protection for spines and stiff cover shielding without the added weight or thickness of grading service holders.  Also, the open top allows for off-gassing, but how much that helps person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point paper aging is anybody’s guess.  Of course, using filter paper inside books whenever possible is probably a good idea too,

So far, I haven’t noticed top-loaders yellowing, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t or that I’m missing gradual degradation of the plastic.  In any event, thanks for the heads-up as this is something to watch.

It’s worth noting that some top-loaders are advertised as archival.  Are they? Who knows! I’d love to see some published scientific data from paper archivists who’ve research top-loader plastic on the rate of degradation and risks or cautions for use with fragile pulp paper.  I’d think this information would be of critical value to most collectors, especially anyone still on the fence about this.

My collector’s dream, wish list ...whatever you want to call it... would be for the availability of light weight, archival quality top-loaders for comics and art.

For me, the magazine sized top loaders don't provide an enhanced eye appeal as they give a frosty look. If anything, the top loaders give better storage stability in the boxes along with super gold open end mylars, 2 mi mylite flap bags, and super gold boards. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by Primetime

[KCOComics]

14 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

Two reasons - 1) the plasticizers used in top loaders breakdown quickly causing them to turn yellow and brittle. 2) there is very little room for error when loading them. More spine damage has been caused by the top edges of top loaders. 

They are definitely aesthetically pleasing and using polybags with them helps, but they simply are not a good archival storage product.

I'll start by saying,  I highly value your opinion seeing many of your other posts and sales threads. I also watched your video to open a slabbed book. My process didn't go as smoothly as yours.... 

What do you suggest using for valuable golden age? I just bought mylite magazine sized top loaders. Do you think I'm better off leaving them bagged and boarded? Or triple boarded as others suggested? 

Presentation is less important than protection to me. 

[Cat-Man_America]

10 hours ago, Primetime said:

For me, the magazine sized top loaders don't provide an enhanced eye appeal as they give a frosty look. If anything, the top loaders give better storage stability in the boxes along with super gold open end mylars, 2 mi mylite flap bags, and super gold boards. 

Thanks for at least trying to make sense out of my prior post.  Something crazy must’ve happened in the posting process and a line of unfamiliar dialogue was substituted ...possibly by little green aliens from another world.  Anyway, the line “person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point” has been deleted and revised in the original post for clarity.  It isn’t something I recall writing and it’s quite unlike anything I’d tend to write if I were making a point.  How it got into my dialogue and who it was directed toward is beyond me.  Mind boggling. 

[Khamul02]

I use 2 mil mylar bags with a gerber board and top loader for all my books over $100. I have been doing this for years without issue. I have over a 100 books stored like this in my collection stored in 4 mil bags and fullbacks. No issues here.