Star Trek cards with water damage or mold, keep or toss

BobCollects · 03-22-2024, 01:32 PM

I bought a bulk lot of Star Trek cards and when they arrived there was severe water damage to two cards boxes inside the shipping box. The inside of the smaller of the two card boxes doesn't show evidence of water damage but some of the cards are discolored along some (but not all) of the edges. The larger card box does look damaged inside. Some of the cards are warped or stuck together. There's discoloration along the edges of some the cards plus blotches that could be mold.

The weird thing is with the smaller card box. The discolored cards are all from the 2006 Rittenhouse Star Trek: Celebrating 40 Years set. The cards are UV coated. All of the other cards in the box are from one of the Rittenhouse star Trek 40th Anniversary sets that featured vintage cardstock with no UV coating. I would expect these cards to be more easily damaged by water than the UV coated ones but they look pristine.

I have a lot of experience with cards that are stuck together due to bricking. I've come across cards here or there in bulk lots that are warped or discolored, probably from water damage. This is the first time I've had to worry about mold, though. I hate to toss all these cards. I'd rather pick out any that are clearly damaged and toss those but if there's mold involved I don't want to mess with any of the cards.

More pictures uploaded to Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/BDc33Gq

Some of the other stacks in the bulk lot, not in these boxes, had autographs mixed in. I haven't even gone through these cards yet. Hopefully nothing valuable is in these two boxes.

Thoughts? Do I toss everything to be safe? Keep what doesn't look discolored? Burn it all?

HiltonL · 03-22-2024, 07:42 PM

mold is bad juju as the spores can get anywhere in your home with a casual walking-by breeze. I say burn it all, unfortunately

03-22-2024, 01:32 PM	#1
BobCollects Member Join Date: Feb 2020 Posts: 1,846 bobcollects1961 BobCollects	Star Trek cards with water damage or mold, keep or toss I bought a bulk lot of Star Trek cards and when they arrived there was severe water damage to two cards boxes inside the shipping box. The inside of the smaller of the two card boxes doesn't show evidence of water damage but some of the cards are discolored along some (but not all) of the edges. The larger card box does look damaged inside. Some of the cards are warped or stuck together. There's discoloration along the edges of some the cards plus blotches that could be mold. The weird thing is with the smaller card box. The discolored cards are all from the 2006 Rittenhouse Star Trek: Celebrating 40 Years set. The cards are UV coated. All of the other cards in the box are from one of the Rittenhouse star Trek 40th Anniversary sets that featured vintage cardstock with no UV coating. I would expect these cards to be more easily damaged by water than the UV coated ones but they look pristine. I have a lot of experience with cards that are stuck together due to bricking. I've come across cards here or there in bulk lots that are warped or discolored, probably from water damage. This is the first time I've had to worry about mold, though. I hate to toss all these cards. I'd rather pick out any that are clearly damaged and toss those but if there's mold involved I don't want to mess with any of the cards. More pictures uploaded to Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/BDc33Gq Some of the other stacks in the bulk lot, not in these boxes, had autographs mixed in. I haven't even gone through these cards yet. Hopefully nothing valuable is in these two boxes. Thoughts? Do I toss everything to be safe? Keep what doesn't look discolored? Burn it all?

03-22-2024, 07:42 PM	#2
HiltonL Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Sammamish, WA Posts: 2,429 Labman68 HiltonL	mold is bad juju as the spores can get anywhere in your home with a casual walking-by breeze. I say burn it all, unfortunately