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BC Collecting Tips

Business Card Collecting Tips

Storage

As you begin to amass a collection of business cards you will want to store them. If you want to preserve and protect the cards, you will need to follow some basic guidelines. Business cards are made of paper, and all paper is acidic to some degree. This means that your cards will self-destruct over time, no matter what you do. You can significantly delay the inevitable by housing your collection in a controlled environment.

If possible, maintain the temperature between 70 and 75 degrees F and the relative humidity at 50 to 55 percent. Limit exposure to light of all kinds, but especially avoid direct sun. Never use anything but pencils near your collection, and keep your cards far away from glue or tape. Keep your hands clean and hold loose cards only around the edges. Store cards upright in acid-free boxes or in archival-quality pages or albums. Separate cards from each other with acid-free paper or Mylar sleeves. Mylar or polypropylene pages and sleeves are ideal because they allow you to study the cards without actually touching them.

Avery Business Card pages that hold 10 single or 20 back to back cards, are available at most office supply stores or online.  Make sure the package says "Won't lift print", "Acid Free", and/or "Archival safe". DO NOT buy pages that say vinyl or PVC!  Standard baseball card collecting supplies available at your local sports card dealer are also work well.  You can purchase storage boxes, card sleeves or pages that hold 9 single or 18 back to back.

Value/Tradability

The actual "value" of business cards depends on how much someone would pay or what someone would trade to get your card(s). There are several variables that can affect the potential value of your business cards, thus you should take the following factors into consideration when reviewing your appraisal.

Supply and Demand - Economics 101 - As supply increases, price or demand decrease, and when supply decreases, the value or demand increases.

Condition - No matter how rare or common the item may be one of the most important aspects of determining its potential value is condition.  It can drastically affect the potential value of most antiques and collectibles so its of the utmost importance that you note any and all flaws, creases, folds, pinholes, or markings, etc. in as detailed of a description as possible.

Rarity - How rare and/or desirable the item is can and usually will have an affect on its price.  Its rarity is typically determined by how many of a particular item were produced and/or how readily available one can be found in today's trading place.  Therefore even an item at one time easy to locate may now be in high demand thus increasing its value based solely on the supply and demand factor.

Regional Differences - It basically comes down to what cards may show strong interest or a plentiful supply in one area of the country may in fact be much less desirable or much more scarce in another.  As a result of this the perceived value or desirability from one region to another can and will vary and in some cases may be dramatic. Certain NEBCC members may fancy New England area business cards more readily than those of Southern California.

Appearance - A boring black and white business card is almost always less desirable than a colorful or fancy one.  Colored stock, colored ink, foil stamping, embossed logo or photos enhance the attractiveness of a business card. 

Of course, a die-hard collector of a certain type or themed business card may not mind a simple black and white business card if they not not have that particular card in their collection yet.