Bike Spokes and Shoe Boxes: Pro-Mold Product Review

Written by: Tim Danielson on 29th March 2011

Bike Spokes and Shoe Boxes: Pro-Mold Product Review | read this item

As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, when it comes to baseball cards, condition is everything! There are lots of different storage and protection options available to collectors. When choosing the right storage solution for you there are several factors to consider. This week we will take a look at a few options available from Pro-Mold to help you sort them out.

I received the Starter Kit from Pro-Mold for review. The starter kit contains a small sampling of the Pro-Mold product line. It is a great way to introduce collectors to the Pro-Mold family of protective holders.

Individual card holders is where Pro-Mold offers the most solutions to collectors. There are two basic styles of card holders, magnetic (one-touch) and screw down. The physical difference in the two holders is obvious, but the two styles actually cater to how you collect. The screw down style I would recommend to be more for permanent storage. Make sure what card you want to put in this holder and make sure you want to leave it there. The screw downs do offer nice, uniform, durable protection. They are just not made to constantly take cards in and out of them. After just one or two times of tightening and removing the screws, they will strip out and not tighten anymore. All that being said the screw down style is great option for permanent archival storage. I prefer the magnetic style personally. Not that I constantly remove cards in and out of them, but just for the ease of use. These are just quick, simple and easy to use. One feature that is a must for either style of holder is the “arrow head” corners. The four corners are notched out and recessed. This provides the up-most in protection for the most easily damaged part of your card

The latest trend in the trading card industry of thicker, memorabilia, and autographed cards created a need for card holder with deep enough recessed areas to hold them. Pro-Mold has the bases covered here as well. The standard card stock thickness is 20 points. Today though card thicknesses come in 50, 80, 120, 150, 180, and 230 point stock. Most of the memorabilia cards that I have fit just fine in the 80 and 120 point thickness card holders. You will only have a need for 150 and 180 point holders if you have Topps or Bowman Sterling and Upper Deck Sweet Spot autographs. Otherwise your cards will have too much movement inside the holders and can still become damaged.

One nice direction I like that Pro-Mold is taking is making card holders for odd and other sized cards. Although only available in the screw down style, Pro-Mold now offers holders for vintage Topps, vintage Bowman. T206 and Topps Allen and Ginter cards. Now collectors have the correct sized holders available for these non-standard sized cards. Again, having a card in a holder not designed for it can still damage the card.

My starter kit also included a selection of multi-card boxes, baseball and hockey puck holders. The card boxes are available in a variety of sizes from 25 to 400 card capacity. These boxes are a great choice for player, team and set collectors. The baseball holders have a stand in them to keep you ball in place and so you can set and showcase an autograph. The hockey puck holders are square, but do hold a puck securely. Across all of their products, card and memorabilia holders alike, Pro-Mold in including UV protection. This is a great option to help protect your collection from fading due to the long term UV exposure of displaying it. I feel though that anything worth collecting is not worth leaving in direct sunlight.

Whatever you collect, Pro-Mold has a storage and protection solution for it. I would like to thank Mr. Neugebauer, vice-president of Pro-Mold, for the starter kit. Please click here to read my interview with Mr. Neugebauer.

Until next time, keep collecting, collect for the joy of the hobby and collect for the fan in all of us.

The official card trading site of Baseball Digest.com – Sports Card Forum

Share on Tumblr

Topics: Archival Storage, Arrow Head, Autographed Cards, baseball cards, Card Holder, Durable Protection, Four Corners, Head Corners, Memorabilia Cards, Mold Kit, Protection Options, Sampling, Screw Down, Screws, Several Factors, Shoe Boxes, Spokes, Starter Kit, Storage Solution, Trading Card