Night Owl Cards

  Here it is. A plain, black, nondescript binder. Another key addition to my collection.   I'm not as creative as some collectors with their binder presentation, with year-accurate labels and every binder the same color, but I do proudly display a collection in binders. They are out in the open where everyone can see them -- not that I'm taking tickets to my card room. The cards that are in boxes are tucked away on shelves or in drawers.   I'm never comfortable stashing cards in boxes. I know that's what I did as a kid, before I discovered binders. But when binders showed up, it opened a whole new world. Cards are a visual medium and binders offer the best way to present a visual theme.   I feel the same way about any collectible publications that I own, yearbooks and programs and the like. But because that's a side part of my collection, I've stored them in bins without much of a thought -- until a revelation a couple weeks ago.     I mentioned last month ...

I want to address two different card package arrivals that don't have much in common other than that one thing that every arriving card package has in common, which is: How will I store these? It comes down to three ways: binder, top loader or box. These means of packaging, storing and presenting are not the same. Ideally, every last card in my collection would be living in a binder. That's my favorite storage method. They're accessible. The cards are presented nicely within. They're very good for categorizing and we card collectors sure do love to categorize. They look good visually when entering the room and when opening the binder. But I don't have the room for a binder for every card. I can't even process what they would look like. Some edition of "Hoarders," I'm sure. So the cards that are not deemed "worthy" of a binder -- and, yes, I hate that we're prioritizing like this -- go in a box. Boxes are for sets that I...