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Not all it's cracked up to be

 
I've written many times about how I adore Kellogg's 3-D sets from the '70s and early '80s. They are my favorite oddball and food issue of all-time, born out of childhood and breakfast mornings staring at the back of cereal boxes.

I love them.

And they're breaking my heart.

Not only have I been struggling to acquire new ones the last year-and-a-half due to the rise in prices on those cards that previously no one wanted, but their brittle nature is causing me to question whether it's worth it to pursue them anymore.

An example:


I discovered this cracked 1976 Kellogg's Reggie Jackson in my box of Kellogg's cards a few months ago. I was crushed.

The '76 set is complete and just about every one is pristine, there's only one that I can think of that has some wear and yellowing. Nothing has cracks. I just love the beautiful white borders contrasting with the red-and-blue stripes on this set. But cracks -- oh, no -- that's all I see.

The other reason it was so devastating is that this card was a gift, from reader R.C., who generously sent it before I was even seriously trying to complete this set. It meant a lot, as I took up the project, to know the Jackson was safe in my hands without a mark.

Now it has marks -- and not minor nicks on the side or corner that I usually excuse, but GREAT, BIG, CRACKING.

It took me weeks to decide what to do about this and finally I decided to buy another one. I just couldn't let this card be the only subpar example in my complete set.


The card arrived over the weekend. It's my first purchase of the new year. Please note that it arrived in a top-loader. We'll be discussing this later.

The new card is not as nicely centered as the previous one but I can live with that. What I can't live with is for this one to crack, too.

I wish I could be one of those collectors who can gather these cards with cracks galore, they certainly would be cheaper and cause much less heartache, but I just can't do it. I think it's because these were the height of card technology when I was growing up (yet, they weren't placed in gold packs or behind the counter, but amid cereal flakes. Don't tell me I didn't grow up in the best time).

Because of this, the Jackson incident made me wonder if my storage system was an issue. It's possible the card cracked during the Great Binder-Brett Encounter in which I discovered my '78 Kelloggs George Brett card cracked after a binder fell on my stack of Kelloggs cards underneath. That caused me to move all the Kelloggs cards into a box of their own.
 
Most of my Kelloggs cards are now stored in individual top-loaders in the double-long box that I brought home from a card show a few years ago. Here's a look:
 

There are around 420 Kellogg's cards in this box, everything I have from 1970 through 1982, except for the 1973 set and most of the Dodgers, which are stacked separately, on a shelf, outside of direct sunlight (so temperamental, these Kelloggs cards).

I've taken pains to make sure I don't unwittingly crack them. I don't squeeze cards into the box and I don't knock the box around. In fact, I rarely touch it, taking cards out individual only as needed.

I've placed them in top-loaders because for a long time that seemed to thwart cracking. Now I'm wondering if it isn't the cause. The cards are so temperature-sensitive, could the restricting top-loader be preventing it from "breathing"? 

After the Jackson card discovery, I found this, from the same box, also in a top-loader:

Ouch.

There's a new one in my cart as I write this, but I don't know if I want to buy it now, because:
 


Oof.

And ...

The '77 Brett, TOO??????? I haven't even upgraded the '78 Brett yet!

Very disheartening.

Those were the only examples of cards that seemed to magically crack by just sitting in that box.

So is it the top-loaders? The Dodgers are also in top-loaders and, except for one time, they have been free of cracking. The only difference between those and the boxed ones are the Dodgers lie flat while the boxed ones are standing upright.

I don't want to put them in pages because they've cracked in those and with all the page-turning in binders, I'm squeamish. I could take them all out of the top-loaders, still keep them in penny sleeves and then set them ever-so-gently into a room-temperature box. But I get paranoid about the cards curling, which may be why they crack in top-loaders.

(Please note that none of the cracks have appeared in Kelloggs sets from 1979 and 1980, which makes me appreciate those skinnier cards even more).

So, I'm not sure what to do, and I am always hearing conflicting advice on these. Perhaps, they are just too sensitive for me, and with the prices as they are, I should move on to something that isn't going to be so soul-crushing because I can't stop loving them.

And until I figure that out, I won't be re-buying that Cruz or any other cards that happen to crack or any new Kelloggs cards either.

*Sigh* Maybe collecting these isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Comments

Oh that really stinks. I have mine stored in top loaders. I'm afraid to go look.
Jim Osborne said…
Bought a nice ‘77 set in January of 2021. They came in a 100 count plastic case and they were nice, clean, no cracks. Decided to put them in penny sleeves and in nine pocket pages in a binder. No weight in the binder on the shelf, went back about nine months later and about half developed cracks. I love those sets but that scared me off of collecting any others.
John Bateman said…
My mother never bought sweet/sugar cereals when I was a kid, so the vast majority of my small collection of Kellogg's cards were acquire at on ebay about 10-15 years ago. I have never paid my attention if any new cracks have developed since I put them plastic sheets. It does not seem like it but I believe all had some wear and tear when I bought them.

However, I know of 2 cards that I have had that survived since the 1970s. A 1974 Ron Fairly and 1976 George Scott. These cards have just been sitting in cardboard boxes for almost 50 years. I noticed the Fairly has 2 small cracks and a slight bend. The Scott is almost completely flat with no cracks.

I would guess maybe the best would be to leave them un-sleeved laying flat in a cardboard box with minimal handling.
Thats disappointing, and could get quite expensive to have to replace these. Wonder if its climate/humidity based too? Maybe the cards went from low to high humidity? With antique furniture I think you have to be cateful sometimes?
Bummer all around. Thank goodness for Hostess and Post.
Fuji said…
Between reading this post and one over on Run-Fore!-Kellogg's (where he showed off a pair of 1975 Kellogg's that were graded PSA 10... that were both cracked)... I'm kinda freaked out. I store my Kellogg's sets in top loaders like you. I'm scared to check, but this will be on my to-do list when February break rolls around. Ugh.
I've had the same problem with cracking in top loaders. Just bought a 1971 Don Sutton on ebay, and the card looked fine in the scan, but did have a slight curl. Shipper put it in a top loader to ship, and when I received it, a small crack had started. I left it in the top loader and a day later the crack had grown and another had started. Took the card out of the top loader, and the crack stopped growing.

From what I've found, it the card has always been flat, it is usually OK to store in a top loader. However, if there is any curl to the card at all, it is best to not put in in a top loader as that puts pressure on the plastic.

I periodically check my sets which I put in pages many years ago. Most sets have held up well, except the 1975 set for some reason. I've had a number of those crack over the years which I am working to replace.

I love the Kelloggs cards, but they do seem like tiny time bombs ready to crack at any moment.
John Collins said…
Bummer, as I really like these. They’re a little bit before my time…I was born in 1977, these cards have always struck me as cheaper alternatives that still look great in comparison to other cards of the era. My solution for the time being is to collect the 1973 Kellogg’s set, which is the only one that doesn’t have the 3-D plastic cracking potential issue.
I was afraid of cracking so I took all of mine out of 9-pocket pages and put them in toploaders, which had the effect of getting them "out of sight out of mind" and took the wind out of my Kellogg's chase sales. I'm similarly uncertain of what to do with these now... other than focus more on Hostess cards :-/
RunForeKelloggs said…
If I get curled cards, I put them in 9-pocket pages. But, for years I all of the cards in top loaders. Now, I am afraid to look at them.
Nick said…
I don't mind cracked Kellogg's - they're way, way cheaper than pristine ones - but I definitely understand why many collectors prefer them uncracked. I've been putting mine in binders for as long as I've been collecting, and best I can tell, there haven't been any additional cracks as a result. I feel your pain though - I'd definitely be more upset if I was responsible for a card cracking rather than if I'd bought it that way.
Jon said…
I don't know if it's true or not, but I've read more than one person saying that they'll all crack eventually. I only have a few myself, but I keep them in a binder, and to my knowledge none of have cracked that way so far.
Grant said…
I wonder what the best storage method is for longevity. Like, if we find as a hobby, several pristine cards in a lot or something similar, we must ask how they have been stored all these years.
GCA said…
I've got a couple sets in plastic snap boxes stacked together, and others in player collection binders. Didn't realize the cracking was so progressive. I can live with the ones that are. I would imagine they're OK unless you smush 'em together in pages or top loaders.