Displaying our collections (Revisited)

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by dzolot

Beautiful! How did you get that Cracker Jack frame? Did you make it custom? Would love to have something like that for my 51 Bowmans.

First off Ive always liked you glass display, you got a cool lighting system to go with that?

The CJ piece is custom and thought about/designed for nearly 3 years...I take my time. Its freakin huge and heavy though and should have not opted for glass. The back is also glass and window cut showing the backs of all the cards which has been broke and replaced already. It was my B-day/xmas gift from the wife.

[Cerberus]

......there's a light inside the cabinet that looks great at night:

[conor912]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

The CJ piece is custom and thought about/designed for nearly 3 years...I take my time. Its freakin huge and heavy though and should have not opted for glass. The back is also glass and window cut showing the backs of all the cards which has been broke and replaced already. It was my B-day/xmas gift from the wife.

that mat alone must have cost $300+. all that precise measuring and cutting is my worst nightmare

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by conor912

that mat alone must have cost $300+. all that precise measuring and cutting is my worst nightmare

I kinda knew the manager, maxed out the coupons and he happens to bb a vintage bb card collector. I paid 25% for the piece but did all the measurements myself and converted them to their format. I eventuallu made a "rough draft" from newspaper and then overlaid constrauction paper of different colors and decided on this cream. It took me some time.

[esquiresports]

Originally Posted by conor912

that mat alone must have cost $300+. all that precise measuring and cutting is my worst nightmare

Wow. The Cracker Jack display is is a really nice piece. I'm actively looking for new framing ideas. I have a lot of items to frame up. Being Type-A as well and wanting everything perfect but not really wanting to pay for perfection (hah), I just bought an aluminum-based professional mat cutter made for framing shops. Mat board comes in 32x40 inch size, and I had to buy more than a dozen mats, so I have a lot of mat material. Now I just need more cards! Cutting that many windows without using a computerized mat cutter would take some patience, but I'm planning on trying something similar.

[dzolot]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

First off Ive always liked you glass display, you got a cool lighting system to go with that?

The CJ piece is custom and thought about/designed for nearly 3 years...I take my time. Its freakin huge and heavy though and should have not opted for glass. The back is also glass and window cut showing the backs of all the cards which has been broke and replaced already. It was my B-day/xmas gift from the wife.

Thanks rainier! No lighting system - didnt think of it until you mentioned, but its not a bad idea.

How would I go about making a display like yours for myself? Would want to use it for 8 or so 51 bowmans...

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by dzolot

How would I go about making a display like yours for myself? Would want to use it for 8 or so 51 bowmans...

I made it a long process, type A detail oriented anal-retentive perfectionist that needs everything symmetrical.

1. Basic lay-out: I love to spread my cards all over the floor until they meet my mood of the day...just arrange them on the floor until you like them worrying more about the total # and where you want the windows.
2. Decide the basic mount: I decided to place all cards within SGC slabs to utilize their custom black around the card for contrast. This also gives uniformity to that layer within the piece which is necessary. At this point only 15 of the 27 cards are actually graded by SGC and the other 12 have been placed in carefully busted slabs that I pulled CJs out of.
3. The layers on mine, front to back, go frame - glass - matte - cards - matte - glass - framing matte - turnable clips for easy removal (at least in theory). I should have substituted the glass for acrylic (I believe thats the other option) simply for weight purpose, but it doesn't shatter either.
4. Color scheme
5. I made a rough draft of mine with newspaper. The cost of the matte is much more affected by size and not the number of windows cut so I went crazy w/ 27 - almost did 35 but was too big.
6. Become buddies with a manager of a custom framing shop and show him your cards.
*. A lightweight piece of material is used to keep the cards in place and is glued to the back of the matte. I can interchange my cards any way I want as long as they are in a SGC case and I have found psa slabs fit, they just arent centered nor consistent with the piece obviously (and my lazy ass hasnt busted my Pickey out of his psa tomb). This goes against my nature as I like cracking slabs, but its very easy to exchange cards in the SGC cases. I still need 2!