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

[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