I keep the sets in binders, by brand. The problem I had was trying to remember which cards were from which season. With Topps, it was easy. I could tell the season just by sight. Funk psychedelic...1972. Multi color borders...1975. Wood grain, 1962 or 1987.
Donruss made it easy to tell the season by printing the year right on the front of the card. But with all of the other brand it's not so easy. There are just too many and I couldn't keep them all straight. So to solve that problem, I created year cards. The card lists the season and it goes into the first slot of that season's first page.
This is what page one of Fleer 1981 looks like.
I first made year cards for Fleer, with them matching the style of the originals. The number font I used for the year may look familiar. It is the same unique font that the Cubs use for their jersey numbers.
This is what the 1981 year card looks like.
Here is 1991 in all its yellow-stripped glory.
But as the run of Fleer went on, some years it was too hard to make a card that matched the original. When that happened, I made them look like this.
Its much more basic, but you can easily tell the season of the cards. By its end, Fleer made things simple for me again.
This is from Fleer's final season.
Once I finished making these for all of Fleer's run, I started creating them for all the other brands I've got. I tried to use a logo that matched up with the season of the cards. I would change the logo on the year card as the brand's logo changed.
As I was finishing my Bowman collection, I felt the urge to create a nicer year card for the 1955 cards with the TV set. Here is what I came up with.
Have any of you other team collectors come up with a way to distinguish the seasons in your binders? Or am I the only anal one out there?? :)
Love these! When I reach the point where I have enough non-topps team sets to put them in binders, I would definitely want to do something like this. Until then, all completed or partially completed team sets (except Topps, A&G, and Topps Heritage)
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know is how you handle all the team sets that are 12 cards, or 19 cards, or more recent releases with 3 or 4...you know, not enough to fill a page? I can't stand all that "dead space" but I have wanted to organize all my Pittsburgh Binders (Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins) for two years.
ReplyDeleteThat beats my trimmed 3x5 card and a sharpie. I'll be working on my Tiger cards for each set.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you print them on?
Answers....Each year gets to start on a new page, so I have lots of dead space. I'm not crazy about that but it makes it easier to find a year when I have only one spot to look at....I print them up on a heavier stock paper, we have a nice color copy machine that I "borrow" from time to time.
ReplyDeleteVery cool labels. I don't know if you're the only anal one out there but I bet you'd make the top ten! :) You do set a high standard. I'd aspire to your organizational abilities but I know it's not in the cards (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteA big test of how anal you are - Do you create a card for each set (Fleer, Topps, Upper Deck, etc.) or do you also create a card for the subsets (Topps Base, Topps Base Inserts, Topps Series 2, etc.)?
ReplyDelete