The problem with your theory is that simply sticking a cardboard box covered in shrinkwrap inside a UV acrylic case does nothing to slow the aging and degradation of the carboard, paper and plastic in the wrap, the box, the manual and the cartridge itself. While light can certainly be damaging, things like heat, humidity, moisture and airborne pollutants are often far more damaging to cardboard and paper products and many games being found decades after release were stored in all sorts of questionable environments. Simply put, NES boxes were not made of acid free archival material. They were designed to get the games to a store shelf and into the hands of a consumer who presumably would throw the box away after opening. Keeping them wrapped in acidic shrinkwrap only accelerates this process.

Is your collection going to disintegrate in a couple of decades? Probably not, but these games are already 20-30+ years old at this point, so in another 20 years they will be pushing 50 and unless you have invested in a climate control storage unit which also contains inert gas to slow the process, your collection is going to start showing signs of wear over time. Frankly, unless you bought the games new in the 80s, you have no idea how they have been stored and I have opened many sealed games over the years that had mold forming inside the boxes from being stored in moist or humid conditions and games that were exposed to such heat that the sticker dried up and was coming off the cartridge. Personally, I have quite a few older sealed games going back to the original Odyssey, but I refuse to pay crazy amounts of money for them because I know that they aren't going to last forever or even many more decades given the fact that I have collected many other paper items over the years including stamps, paper currency, movie posters, books, comics and political memoribilia and without exception, they all degrade over time unless you find a way of permanently separating the acidic components from the components that are susceptible to damage.


Quote Originally Posted by Frost271 View Post
I'm an avid nes sealed collector and I don't broadcast much about it. I'm a "behind the scenes" type of person.

My personal collection is very important to me. I saw someone mention "degradation" on cardboard boxes. Is there an article on this anywhere? Any facts behind what is being said? I own a few titles that are over 25 years old and look like they came straight off the factory floor. To me, logically, at this rate of "degradation," it would take 100's of years before its "degraded?" So is this even a valid argument? I heard someone mention something about toys and how they are being "degraded?" Where you refering to the glue that holds the plastic to the cardboard box? Wouldn't that mean the glue is more of the factor and not the actual plastic? It would seem we are comparing apples to oranges since nes sealed games are not sealed in the same manner.

My collecting involves finding a nice example, sending it to VGA for cleaning, having VGA case it in 100% UV archival acrylic, and detailed grading with which I place the papers in UV archival plastic holders. I would think that this type of handling would keep the pieces in top shape for decades?