|
A guide for
determining card thickness and what options are available for
storage, archival and display. This guide can be used for determining the thickness of the
following types of cards: |
- Normal Cards
- Thick Inserts
- Game Used Cards
|
- Jersey Cards
- Helmet Cards
|
- Memorabilia Cards
- Piece of Base Cards
|
|
|
|
Thickness Guide
Links: A Brief History |
Measuring |
Storing |
|
|
|
A Brief History of Thickness |
|
| Isn't collecting sports cards great?
There are so many different products now with hundreds of different
inserts available in different scarcities from different manufacturers
for different sports... You have base cards, insert cards,
parallel cards, parallel insert cards, 1 of 1 cards, serial numbered
cards, variants, autographed cards, memorabilia cards and on and on and
on. It's great having that variety until you have to figure out a
way to protect and store them!
The good thing is that most cards are now manufactured to a standard length and
width (with just a few exceptions) of 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. Of course you get the random product that
has cards that are tobacco size (1-15/32" x 2-11/16") or 4"x6" or the
size and shape of poker chips! But, for the most part, sports cards are
pretty consistently sized. The good news is that most storage
supplies are made for 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch cards. The bad news is
there is quite a bit of variance in the thickness of the
cards.
There really haven't been any industry standards defined in regards to card thickness. Up until
about 6 or 7 years ago, that really wasn't a big problem.
Starting sometime in the early 2000s card manufacturers came up with the
novel idea of including a piece of memorabilia in a card.
It was a very ingenious idea, and one that breathed life into the
collectibles
industry.
Before long cards were being made with everything from a
game-used or practice jersey to a piece of a goal post or face mask!
As you can imagine, taking a viable slice of a jersey or a viable slice
of a base pad and figuring out a way to put it into a card isn't an
easy thing to do. Therefore manufacturers started to change the
thickness of the cards to support mounting the various new materials
into the cards.
As you can imagine over the last half a decade, there are literally
hundreds, if not thousands of products with varying thicknesses.
How do you go about storing all of
those thousands of different cards? The first step is to measure
just how thick they are.
|
|
|
|
|
A Method to Measure Thickness |
|
|
The thickness of cards is
usually measured in one of two ways: by Points (sometimes
abbreviated PTS. or PT.) or by Millimeters
(sometimes abbreviated MM). One point is equal to
0.001 inches or 0.0254 millimeters. Generally base issue
cards like Topps or Upper Deck are printed on a 20pt. cardstock which is
a good place to start for measuring the thickness of your cards.
If you take a few of the
normal or regular 20pt. thick cards and stack them on top of each other,
you can then begin to compare the stack to your thicker cards and
reasonably estimate their thickness (This method was originally created
by the manufacturer Pro-Mold). For instance, if 4 regular cards
stacked together match your thick card, you can probably assume it's
between 75pt. to 85pt. thick.
 |
|
Seven regular cards
stacked equals one thicker jersey card. Approximately 140
points thick. |
Another method
is simply to measure the thickness of the card in millimeters or inches
and convert that number to points. For fairly thick cards you can
attempt do this with a ruler. A card that is 1/10 of an inch thick
would be equal to 100 points. Measuring a card in millimeters
versus inches is a better, more granular method. You can use a
metric ruler, like the one below, to measure how thick in millimeters
the card is.
 |
|
Use a Metric Ruler
to Determine Thickness of Cards |
Once
you've determined the thickness of the card in inches or millimeters,
you can use the chart below to convert the thickness to points. |
|
|
Quick Reference Guide
Approximate Conversion Values for Points, Millimeters & Inches |
|
1 Point is
equal to: |
0.001 inches |
|
1/64th (0.0156")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
16-20 points |
|
1/2 Millimeter
is equal to: |
20 points |
|
0.0254 millimeters |
|
20 Points is
equal to: |
0.020 inches |
|
1/32nd (0.0313")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
30-35 points |
|
1.25 Millimeters
is equal to: |
50-60 points |
|
0.508 millimeters |
|
50 Points is
equal to: |
0.050 inches |
|
3/64th (0.0469")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
45-50 points |
|
2 Millimeters
is equal to: |
70-80 points |
|
1.27 millimeters |
|
75 Points is
equal to: |
0.075 inches |
|
1/16th (0.0625")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
60-70 points |
|
2.5 Millimeters
is equal to: |
100 points |
|
1.905 millimeters |
|
100 Points is
equal to: |
0.100 inches |
|
5/64th (0.0781")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
75-80 points |
|
3 Millimeters
is equal to: |
120 points |
|
2.43 millimeters |
|
1/8th (0.125")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
120-130 points |
|
4 Millimeters
is equal to: |
150 points |
125 Points is
equal to: |
0.125 inches |
|
|
3.175 millimeters |
|
3/16th (0.1875")
of an Inch is
equal to: |
180 points |
|
5 Millimeters
is equal to: |
180 points |
180 Points is
equal to: |
0.180 inches |
|
1 Point is Equal to
0.001 Inches
1 Point is Equal to 0.0254 Millimeters |
|
4.572 millimeters |
|
|
|
| Now that you have an
estimation of the thickness of your cards in points, you can select one
of the various options available to store them. |
|
|
|
|
Storing Thicker Cards |
|
| Determining how to store
your thicker (and usually more valuable) cards can be a little tricky.
There are many different options available including
sleeves,
toploaders,
snaps,
screwdowns and
magnetic holders. You should
consider the following questions when figuring out how you want to store
your cards: |
- How valuable is the card I am storing?
- Do I want to display the card I am storing?
- Do I plan to only archive the card I am storing?
- How many cards do I need to store?
- How much am I willing to spend to store each card?
|
|
| Toploaders |
|
 |
Toploaders are the most cost effective and reasonable way to
store cards. This storage method has been by far the most
popular way to store valuable cards over the last 2-3 decades.
Storing cards in toploaders usually involves first purchasing a
pack of toploaders (which usually come in packs of 25) and a pack
of
soft sleeves (which usually come in packs of 100). Each
card then gets inserted into a soft sleeve and then into a rigid
toploader. The sleeve helps protect the surface of the card
and also adds to a more snug fit in a toploader.
Toploaders are
now available in a variety of thicknesses that range in size from
20 points all the way to 180 points! UltraPRO is the leading
producer of toploaders and generally has the highest quality
products. They have toploaders available in the following
sizes: |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Screwdowns |
|
 |
Screwdown holders have always
offered the best protection for individual cards. Screwdowns
essentially come in 1 or 4 screw versions. The 1 screw
versions are by far the most popular and are available in various
sizes. They consist of 2 pieces of archival safe, acid free
plastic that are sealed together via a screw at the top of the
holder. Recently, Pro-mold
has come out with a screwdown holder that has the corners of the
holder "cut out" in an arrow-head shape so that if a card is loose
in the screwdown, the corners won't be damaged. UltraPRO has
followed suit, but only with their magnetic line of holders.
Screwdown holders offer the best
protection for valuable cards as long as one can be found that has
a snug fit. Once you determine the thickness of the card
you're trying to store, you may need to try a couple of sizes to
find the right one. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Magnetic Holders |
|
 |
Magnetic holders are the newest
card storage supply. Both Pro-Mold and UltraPRO have come
out with products in this space and all have been met with open
arms by the card collecting community. These holders consist
of two pieces of plastic that are sealed via a strong magnet
instead of a screw. Both
UltraPRO and Pro-mold have corner protection in all of their
holders. Pro-Mold is the only manufacturer to offer a line
of magnetic holders that offer UV protection. However, the
UV line of Pro-Mold supplies carries a significant premium over
their normal line. UltraPRO
and Pro-mold remain on par with each other in regards to price for
their basic lines. Pro-mold offers holders for 5 different
thicknesses, while UltraPRO has 4. We've generally found
Pro-mold's magnetic closure to be stronger than UltraPRO's.
In summary both manufacturer's offer
a wide variety of products which have stronger protection than a
toploader/sleeve but are less of a hassle than a screwdown. |
| |
|
|
|
|
