When it comes to the best holders for sports cards, one reason why many prefer a standard top loader is because it fits nicely with the rest of their cards and in existing storage boxes. With Card Savers, though, they sure are practical for many occasions, but their taller and wider dimensions make things a little tough.
While you might be thinking, “are the two really all that different in size?” the answer is, yes, and while it’s not by a lot, even a small difference is enough for a card in holder to not fit, and thus even compromise the condition.
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Listen up: Let me pause and say this blog is getting pretty long because it discusses the different sizes of card holders, why you can’t just use any old card storage box, and why Amazon’s search algorithm makes things challenging. So, if you want to jump straight to a product that can accommodate the Card Saver 1, this one appears to do so:
Graded Card Penthouse Storage Box System – Holds Graded Cards and Card Saver 1’s
So, hope that helps! I wish I could say that yes, it for sure does fit the Card Saver 1, but I haven’t tried it myself. Not to mention that this product looks to be for an entire penthouse of boxes and not just a single box? So, you might be able to search through the seller’s items to find a better, cheaper alternative.
Anyway, back to the blog! And please do let me know if you have a better or similar alternative.
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Standard top loaders measure 3” x 4”, while the standard Card Saver I measures 3 5/16″ x 4 7/8″. Most of the extra space at the top is including the 1/2″ “lip” to make sure easy card insertion. It’s that same lip, though, that makes card storage difficult given most box lids will just smash it down. That’s not even mentioning the difference in width, which is probably even more unforgiving.
Next question, what about a PSA or BGS slab storage box? A PSA slab measures around 3 3/16″ and 5 3/8″ so as you can see, still not really close.
My point is, all of this matters. In fact, here is a box advertised to fit “One Touch Magnetic Holders, Toploaders and Card Saver 2.”
But again, Card Savers aren’t even created alike (hence the need for Card Saver I and Card Save II) and thus the Card Saver I definitely does not fit here according to the reviews.
So, what are you to do? Logic would say, well, just go to Amazon and search for something like “card storage card saver 1” but that led me nowhere, and actually brought up the product above (probably because “card saver 1” was mentioned in the reviews.
Instead, I went to Google and performed a little search operator trickery in order to come up with better results. My search was “site:amazon.com intitle:box “card saver 1” which is basically asking Google to search only Amazon.com and to return anything that specifically mentions “box” in the title and then “card saver 1” anywhere.
After sifting through some of the results, voila! Here it is again in case you missed it above, but hope it helps, and hope it really does hold the Card Saver 1!
In addition, depending on how many boxes of Card Savers you’ve purchased, you can always just store the cards in the boxes they were purchased in!
