Category Collecting

As I’ve continued to grow my football card collection, I’ve had to expand my storage and display space. Around this time last year, I converted two drawers of an IKEA drawer set to store cards in top loaders or graded slabs. This January, I converted the remaining drawers in the two drawer sets that are currently in the library, significantly expanding my storage capacity.

My wife’s new cat Tilly attempted to help, but only succeeded in getting in the way.

I also expanded the number of display shelves that I have in the library:

As I continue to collect more cards and sports memorabilia, I’ll need to keep getting more creative to find storage space. That said, this latest project has given me enough space to last the next several years.

As part of my ongoing quest to build display and storage for my sports card collection, I purchased a vintage card catalog from the library at Iowa Wesleyan University. It turned out to be a fun day trip to drive to Mount Pleasant, with stops in Dubuque, Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids to check out bars, restaurants, and local card shops.

Once I got there, I thankfully had help to load the extremely heavy card catalog into the trailer, but also to load all of the individual drawers separately.

Once I made it back to Wisconsin, I unloaded the card catalog and moved it into the guest house. I had to remove the metal legs to reduce the height, and then I added a new wood veneer on the sides to cover over some scratches and other damage that it had taken over the years. It fits the space really well, and the drawers are the perfect size for sports cards!

Here are a few more photos of my overall card storage and display areas, split between the card catalog plus other shelves in the guest house, and part of the library:

During the pandemic, I got back into a hobby I’d really enjoyed as a kid, collecting sports cards. The hobby has changed a lot since then, with much higher prices for cards and many more high end autographed and memorabilia cards to chase. I wanted to make a space to display the cards, and the library seemed like a natural fit. Here are some initial photos of what will likely evolve into a much larger project as my collection expands.