Signed Baseballs question

[homerunhitter]

thanks for the info, i appreciate it. i always thought sharpie bleeds into baseballs.

also, i forgo to add last time.what choices do we have in avoiding fading? my thoughts are with spraying with krylon, it will at least "lock in" the signature preventing it from fading. if we dont spray with krylon, the signature will fade over time guaranteed. your thoughts on this?

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

thanks for the info, i appreciate it. i always thought sharpie bleeds into baseballs.

also, i forgo to add last time.what choices do we have in avoiding fading? my thoughts are with spraying with krylon, it will at least "lock in" the signature preventing it from fading. if we dont spray with krylon, the signature will fade over time guaranteed. your thoughts on this?

I would not spray the balls. It may turn them an ugly yellow or make the ink signatures bleed, and it won't protect them from UV either. The ink could still fade even if under a layer of Krylon.

Here is what I do:

* Use Ultra Pro UV ball cubes
* Display the balls a few at a time and rotate every few months. Keep them in a dark closet when not on display.
* Put them in a spot where they will not be hit by direct sunlight
* If you are work for the day, draw the blinds in the room
* Do not use florescent lighting

Using these steps, the balls will go many years with no signs of fading, and you will be able to enjoy them.

[yanksfan09]

Use LED bulbs , no UV.

[homerunhitter]

thank you, I will take your advice on the lighting and uv cubes to display. I appreciate your help because for years and years my collection has been stored away in a box in the dark, what is the fun and purpose of collecting if you cant display it? (its a very slippery slope, because I want to/and will display my signed items, but also dont want them to fade!) I think if I take the advice here, my signed items should last at least my life time (they can fade after im long gone, but ill enjoy them NOW!

[toyman55]

I keep mine in a glass case in my "mancave". Lighting is low and when I am not in there I have lights off and the one window covered with black out cloth so no light gets in.

[homerunhitter]

very nice display, thanks for your advice, i will try this out , thank you again!

[mr2686]

A lot of great advice already given. Keep in a cube or case with UV protection, keep out of constant sunlight, do not handle baseballs without gloves (oils from hands are killer), use LED lights in display area. Even with all of this, if the pen used was crap, you're still going to have fading/bleeding. BIC Med PT was always my pen of choice and those balls have held up well.

[Den*nis O*Brien]

Spraying with Krylon would be a very bad option to deter both A & B UV rays. The possibility of a minute or large chemical reaction between spray components and ink components certainly exists. BCW offers ball cubes with a selection of UV stabilizers incl. longevity expectancy. Teaming up a quality ball cube and a display case with conservation glass that has added protection of owner applied UV film and then kept out of direct sunlight is a very workable approach to protecting a precious and fragile collectable. I do not believe that A & B rays turn corners. I think they only travel in straight lines and do not "Ricochet" around a room. Maybe someone here can shed some light on this. Sakura Micron pens (Under $6.00) offer 100 yr. archival ink in a variety of colors and roller ball diameters. Microns are very well reviewed by players using them on baseballs. I recently inquired of a plastics engineer about the difficulty and cost of adding both UV stabilizers and clarifying agents specifically in the manufacturing process of slabs. The response was that there would be no added difficulty and few pennies per unit of expense. The grading companies have been dragging their feet and offering very weak excuses regarding not including this protection. Conservator gloves cost little more than a dollar each and are made of the highest quality cotton and are a must in handling baseballs. They are available at many retailers on the internet.

[Huck]

To display my collection, I purchased a 153 ball display from http://www.homeplateheroes.com/Baseb...Thumbnail.html - The displays are really nice, well made but on the expensive side. I looked high and low for a display case and I think Home Plate Heroes are one of the best. Around the holidays they offer decent deals and really great deals when the appear at shows (they don't want to have to pack the displays). My case was an item a customer backed out of and was on sale. The display is on my basement wall between two windows that are just above grade. Obviously, the balls should be kept out of direct sunlight. In my opinion any fading of signatures was due to the force at which the player signed and the ink reacting to the leather. Bud Selig, Bob Horner and Gaylord Perry have just about faded away, especially the Horner. Currently, I try to stay away from getting balls signed. If I do decide to get a ball signed, I think I will try on of these pens on a lesser player.

https://www.pigmamicron.com/history