Best way to display a full (132) card sheet?

[jp1216]

I'm looking to display/hang my only 132 card sheet. Any ideas? Pictures?

[frankbmd]

Jon,

Just noticed your post about sheet displays.

My only sheet is the first produced by UD: 1989 Baseball with cards #1-100.

In 1989 they were the first "premium" card. The sheet is framed with glass on both sides, so that is could be hung in the middle of a large room and viewed from either side. Even though I have a large room with cathedral ceilings I have never displayed it that way. It hangs over the staircase coming down from my loft, where it doesn't get direct sunlight. I have never turned it over.

I thought the framing was an interesting concept though.

Frank - stuck at 511

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by jp1216

I'm looking to display/hang my only 132 card sheet. Any ideas? Pictures?

I know a fair bit about this, as I've done research into framing antique textiles for a 1920s banner I was going to have restored and framed, and much of the same rules apply

1) UV protection is a must if you intend to display. Light WILL do damage sooner or later, ESPECIALLY where dyes and pigments and photographs are concerned. And even UV filtration won't keep your item 100 percent protected, so pick a spot out of direct light, and if at all practical, try to rotate the item in and out of display, every few months or so (much as museums do). It'll enhance the longevity of your item
1B) As for what type of UV filtration, you can get glass or plexi. Each has pros and cons. Glass is heavier, easier to break (which could scratch your item). Plexi is lighter and far less shatter prone, but it can scratch a little more easily than glass so you have to be more careful as you transport. Also, there are those who are concerned about plexi's longterm stability, as it is a petroleum based product, while glass is highly stable, chemically inert. But plexi is a good, highly stable product as well, so I honestly don't think you need to worry about this. I'll be using plexi to frame my banner. Regardless of whether you get plexi or glass, PAY THE EXTRA for the anti-reflective coating, also known as museum glass/plexi. It's practically invisible, and when you see it in a side-by-side comparison with non-coated materials...it's night and day. 100 percent recommend

2) Avoid contact with your item. You want as little touching your sheet as possible, to avoid any transference or chemical reaction between the two. For starters, you should never allow your glass/plexi to contact the sheet, which means you'll either need a mat board cut to fit around the sheet, or spacers that separate the glass from your item. From a cost perspective, I recommend spacers; finding a sheet large enough for an outer mat can be costly as is the labor to cut it, and it enlarges the frame and the glass. However, matting when done right is very attractive. It's a $$$ versus aesthetics call really. As for mounting your sheet, I'd recommend edge corners that gently hold the four corners of your sheet, and give it support, without using any adhesives or harsh attachments.

3) Most importantly, use archivally sound materials. You must be very careful what touches your item, because there are dangers involved, primarily with the acids contained in certain common materials. I recommend a metal frame. Wood contains acids that can discolour your item, and if you opt for wood, it must be sealed with a water borne polyurethane to lock those acids in. Depending on the size and weight of the sheet, you may need to have built a support frame to keep your item from warping or bowing under it's own weight; a simple backing may not be enough. For my banner I'm building such a strainer...it's really just a frame that you attach the backing to. Build out of metal, or as I'm opting to do, wood with the poly seal. Your backing/mount should be archivally sound mat or rag board acid free. You'll encounter two kinds: buffered and unbuffered. Unbuffered are chemical free and inert, while buffered materials contain a calcium carbonate additive, basically an alkaline that counters acids that might reside in the display item itself. I'm betting your sheet was NOT printed on archival, acid free material, and therefore, you should get buffered backing.

4) Environment: make sure you have a suitable display location with climate control and median range humidity, 50% humidity give or take 10%. Ideally not basements or attics or garages! And as mentioned in my first point, if you have something else you can display, so you can rotate items, that is ideal, to limit the light exposure it receives.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions!

BR

[jp1216]

^^ After reading that, I should just leave the sheet rolled up and in a tube ^^

Seriously, thanks for the advice. I'll have to put some thought and planning into it...

[Brianruns10]

It's worth the time and investment now. You need only watch a few episodes of antiques roadshow to see how valuable prints and photographs have been improperly displayed and have all kinds of conditions issues which detract the value and require conservation.

Do it right now, and it'll last decades and decades.

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by jp1216

^^ After reading that, I should just leave the sheet rolled up and in a tube ^^

By the way, if this is how you are actually storing your sheet, I'd strongly advise another storage method. It needs to be stored flat, ideally between two sheets of acid-free buffered mat board, and kept in a dark, climate controlled place, ideally lying flat. Like under your bed for example.

[doug.goodman]

I'm going to go at your question from a slightly different angle.

I am going to assume that the sheet(s) you want to display are going to give you more satisfaction from them being displayed, than from potential resale value in 50 years.

If my assumption is valid, than a google search for "poster display hangers" turns up lots of options.

http://www.allposterframes.com/all-p...me.asp?ID=5242

http://www.displays2go.com/Product.aspx?ID=13740

I wouldn't suggest using these for your 1952 Topps high number sheet, but your 1985 Topps sheets would look pretty cool.

Doug

[Brianruns10]

When it comes to deciding how to preserve and display valued items, the word "assume" is most dangerous.

We cannot know the value of something in 50 years. Baseball cards being a famous example, as most were lost because people ASSUMED they were worthless. In the 1950s maybe they were, but in 30 years time, not so much.

Whether these cards are valuable or not, doesn't change that there is a right way and a wrong way to display them. Both will work, but one will shorten the lifespan of the item, and damage it beyond repair given enough time. The other will ensure there is something worth passing on.

It's pay now or pay later. Better to do it right the first time, rather than cut corners.

[doug.goodman]

I respectfully disagree.

I do not care about the monetary value of any item in my collection now, and if I care in 50 years, well, "50 years from now me" will just have to put up with how "current me" displayed stuff.

As an example, my 1957 Topps baseball partial sheet is on the wall in my den, in a standard frame that I bought at a regular store. If it's losing value the longer it hangs on my wall, so be it. But it makes me smile every time I walk past it.

Doug

[doug.goodman]

PS -

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

We cannot know the value of something in 50 years. Baseball cards being a famous example, as most were lost because people ASSUMED they were worthless. In the 1950s maybe they were, but in 30 years time, not so much.

If people had treated baseball cards as potential valuable objects back then, they wouldn't be nearly as valuable today, and my collection would be "worth" far less, and it would be far bigger.

[darkhorse9]

I tend to agree with those who say "display it the way you like it"

I have an autographed picture of Muhammed Ali that was personalized to me. It go a bit wrinkled over the years but still looks great. I tried to frame it but the wrinkles really showed.

I took it to a professional framer and asked him to dry mount it for me. He reminded me that it would hurt the collectible value of it. Since I have no plans to ever sell it during my lifetime - it has ZERO collectible value.

When I'm gone and my heirs decide to sell it who cares if they only get 50 cents for it. that's fifty cents more than they had.

Everyone's a winner there.

The only time all that stuff should matter is if you're planning on selling it as a framed item.

[Brianruns10]

Hey I'm just trying to offer the best help I can. Like the advice of a doctor or lawyer you can take what I have to say, or leave it. But you'll probably wind up regretting it.

Make no mistake, there is a right way and a wrong way to display any item, and you all are quite simply doing it the wrong way. Go ahead and treat your collections like junk. Because that's what it'll be after a few decades of display the way you all are doing it.

Let's forget money already. I don't collect for the money. I collect because I love these cards as works of art, as piece of history, and as relics of a past-time that is dead. Yes, dead. And there are reasons beyond money for bothering to take care of things that mean a lot to you.

Would you store a box of photographs or films in a hot attic, or in your basement beneath a dripping waterpipe? Would fill your classic car with regular unleaded, and let it sit out in the sun all summer uncovered, exposed to the elements and the birds? Sure, you can, but why would you if you truly care about those things?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I was brought up to believe that when you care about something, you treat it right, and take care of it. My Charles Lindbergh banner has little monetary value, but I care about it as a piece of history and a treasured hand-me-down from my grandfather. So I intend to treat it properly and display it right. And I wanted to share my experience with everyone else. And I am grateful to my dad, who kept his cards in boxes all those years. Not because he viewed them as commodities. But because he loved those cards. And dammit, he was going to take care of them, and keep them safe.

But I'm just one voice, and really, what do I know? I only studied history and archival research in school. I only studied studied film preservation along the way to my masters in cinema and photography. I only worked for two years as a freelancer who specialized preserving films, obsolete tape formats and photographic negatives and Kodachromes. And I'm currently just a paid professional who does historical research and archival management of a stock film library for a major film production company. And I've only been collecting stamps, coins and ball cards for the last 23 years of my life.

What do I know?

[darkhorse9]

Brianruns, I appreciate what you're saying, but I think there is an element that you are missing.

For the record I am a published historian myself and have done extensive research work for three major university athletic programs and the Hall Of Fame.

That being said, one has to realize that - in many cases - we're just dealing with cardboard here. There is no "value" to any of it other than the emotional value that one applies to it. There is a factor of preserving such items so that future citizens might experience that same emotional value, but if it comes at a cost of depleting the emotional value for the current owner, that's counterproductive.

There are tons of things out there that I wish someone from the 1910's had bothered to save and preserve so that I could enjoy it today, but that's also part of the rarity of history. It's fleeting. I'm sure everyone alive today wishes the previous owners of the Dead Sea Scrolls had thought to preserve the entire document in UV protectant glass away from direct sunlight in a climate controlled room, flat and with acid-free paper. But that didn't happen.

That's one reason I don't deal in graded cards. To me it seperates the item from my enjoyment and places it at measurment of someone else's enjoyment.

I get what your saying, but flaunting some credentials in some effort to trump the validity of how someone else handles their "worthless" items seems a bit disengenuous.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Hey I'm just trying to offer the best help I can

Everybody on the board appreciates and thanks you for it.

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

What do I know?

Evidently, a lot.


I was just suggesting an alternate (and cheaper) option, which happens to be what I would do (if I had the wall space to display any of my 100+ sheets), and because I think many people take this stuff way too seriously.

Doug

[bsuttonosu]

I actually very much appreciate the thoroughness of the advice, especially as someone with a vintage pennant that I've been trying to figure out how to display. It is sufficiently rare and cost me enough that I want to do it right.

But I have to also agree with the others. The process you described will cost hundreds of dollars at a frame shop. Perfect for some items. But if I just picked up a pennant at the team shop for $5, I'm grabbing three push pins and tacking it to the wall.

Assuming everything might have future collectible value is how you end up with boxes of unopened first year Stadium Club Hockey cards taking up space in your closet. Not that anyone I know has those.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by bsuttonosu

Assuming everything might have future collectible value is how you end up with boxes of unopened first year Stadium Club Hockey cards taking up space in your closet. Not that anyone I know has those.

Laughing out loud.

That's possibly the best post ever (the entire thing, not just what I quoted).

Doug

[bsuttonosu]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

Laughing out loud.

That's possibly the best post ever (the entire thing, not just what I quoted).

Doug

I keep them right beside my 1987 Topps wax...someday those will pay for my kids' college (or at least a lunch).

[ALR-bishop]

As hard as it is for me to say, I am with Doug on this one. It's a hobby for me and has been since 1958. I collect Topps sets, packs and some uncut sheets. I display them in the way I can best access them or see them. If the value declines because of the way I do it, I'll never know it, and my heirs will just have to grin and bear it

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1336676058

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj555/Bishop539
/ToppsSheets001.jpg?t=1336676457

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1336675788

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1336674709

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

As hard as it is for me to say, I am with Doug on this one.

Al - You know that you agree with 99% of my posts...

Insert smiley face here,
Doug