Caring for your collectibles
Books/Paper | Vinyl records | Plates, pottery & porcelain | Dolls & Figurines
Toys & Games | Jewellery | Postage stamps | Wooden furniture
Caring for your antiques and collectibles can be enough to baffle the best of us so how do you go about choosing the proper cleaning method? To make things a bit easier, follow these guidelines to help you put the value back in to your valuables.
Some general tips to follow are:
- Never store your valuables near a heat source
- Clean with care
- Keep original packaging to maintain value
- Dust regularly
- Take photographs and keep them in a separate location for insurance purposes
Some specific collectible guidelines
Caring for Books/Paper
Preserve your book collection by dusting regularly at the very least two or three times a year. Hand-held vacuum cleaners are perfect for dust-busting.
One of the biggest enemies of collectable books is heat. Never leave books near a radiator as overheating dries out books; the leather and cloth bindings crack and the book will literally fall apart.
Books/paper will fade if left in direct sunlight, so keep them in the shade.
Basements are often the best place to store rare books as they are usually dark and chilly but beware of any damp as it leads to foxing - a chemical reaction that can stain paper or result in mould.
Spines are often the weakest parts of a book so try to avoid pulling old books from the shelf by their spine.
An overcrowded bookshelf is one to avoid; you should be able to pull them out easily.
Clear acetate covers are an inexpensive way to protect book jackets.
To prevent brittleness in leather books, apply a tiny amount of leather protector with a soft cloth, then add a little leather dressing - this should liven it up.
Store paper collectibles like comic books, autographs, souvenir programmes and postcards in clear plastic bags or polypropylene sleeves.
Wash your hands before handling paper collectibles.
Never fold old paper as this makes it even more fragile.
Avoid using cellophane tape, other sticky tapes, rubber cements, glue, or post-its on your paper collectibles as they can discolour the paper and attract insects.
Newspaper collectibles should always be stored separately as the news print and paper contains acid in the ink.
