Is there a particularly handy way to store / archive postal covers? I'd prefer to display them rather than boxing them up, but I'm not sure if there is a good way to do this. Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I use lightweight clear sleeves (Lindner 883/1 for standard size envelopes). I also use the same protector in appropriate sizes for European covers and number 10 business envelopes. They store nicely in the photo boxes found at Michael's or in 11 3/4 X 8 Z 4 3/4 boxes from Staples or other office supply company. You can grab a handful any time you want and browse through them and they are protected.
I've never been happy with any binder/page arrangement but some people find them wonderful. Experiment a little.
Whatever you do - do not mount them in a frame and expose them to sunlight.
What webpaper said ... I am a sleeve-and-box man, myself ... except:
Aside from museum pieces, I think its fine to display a few covers under glass, away from direct sun, as pretty much all glass stops pretty much all UV.
If you want to take it to the next level, you can drape a hankie on the frames, and uncover them only when you are in the room, stamping.
You can make 'rotate the covers display' a weekly thing, and no one will dig up your grave just to spit in your face.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
My husband is considering making a coffee table with a display of some my family's oldest items (including letters, postcards, covers, etc.), and topping it with a glass top. Should the glass be tinted a bit for protection? The table won't be placed in direct light, but it will get some.
lovely idea, but unless there is NO way for liquids to migrate at the corners........
sunlight, pigments, papers; the three are not friends.... add liquid, and, well, your husband is wonderful, but I might approach it a little differently
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
"Should the glass be tinted a bit for protection? "
I wouldn't use "tinted" glass, but would look for some with UV protection. That's what we use when framing some of my photographs. Preserves the colors from harsh light.
Also, since it will be a large flat horizontal surface (wow... that was a bunch of adjectives) I would also look into getting Tempered glass. Placing a drinking glass down at the wrong spot can cause a large piece of untempered glass to shatter.
That's what he mentioned- tempered glass. I must say, though, I LOVE Ningpo's idea. Way less stressful. I could put copies of photos and papers, along with a few other items. Something along the lines of this photo.
Again, I say thanks! Where have y'all been all this time I've been trying to deal with this?
Here's mine. I bought this ornate large coffee table at a second hand store. It had the glass top but nothing below it, you just saw what was on the shelf below. I immediately created the shadow box with a new bottom.
The goal was to create a place to share all those neat things you have but have nowhere to display. You'll see some postcards in the lower right corner, but the stuff inside includes everything from a Lucky Strike 1920s tin to Springsteen tickets! It's just a display of our life!
Collectible wise, I've had this table five years and have had no deterioration of anything. Air flows fine, no sun fading and nobody has spilled a drink (so far!).
"The things we regret most are the things that we did not do."
Don't know who said that but, years ago, IKEA was selling a very plain coffee table, with a clear top covering and a matrix of spaces for the bits'n'pieces of everyday life, for less than U$D 200, and some idiot could not pull his thumb out and buy one on the spot. Never saw it again.
I was thinking of depositing pocket-change coins collected during my travels, once-expensive now-useless parts that came out of expensive things that I fixed, bits of Roman marble, pretty stones ... nothing that would measurably suffer from indirect sunlight or beverage spills.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
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