OT - What is it about framing?

[conor912]

Originally Posted by AustinMike

This may be a stupid question, but here goes. Is there any way to tell whether the glass, matting, etc. in a framed item is archival quality? Could I or my local framing shop, after removing the backing, be able to tell if the glass is UV protected, the matting is acid free, etc.?

Put it in direct sunlight for the summer. That'll give you your answer

[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by conor912

Put it in direct sunlight for the summer. That'll give you your answer

Yeah, that would do it.

[MartyFromCANADA]

Great stuff fellas. Here's what I have done.

T'sGraded.jpg

30-70Graded.jpg

[spaidly]

My thoughts on why some (many?) collectors, including me, are not fans of framing cards is it takes them out of circulation. Photos, I get, but cards were intended to be traded whether for money or other cards and for me there is a psychological thing where framing a card means it has met its final resting place. I think it is cool if that is the intent as the displays in this thread are amazing and collectors can and should do anything they want. I guess you could crack them out if need be when you know you framed them properly, which is why several people in this thread don't like buying pre-framed stuff as you can't be sure in those cases. The framed graded cards mitigate this yet put the cards in a "double jail", which seems weird and awesome to me at the same time.

For me, my entire collection must have the ability to be liquidated relatively quickly. I don't churn my collection a lot but I have this innate feeling that I need the ability to trade anything at anytime. When I was a kid and collected in the mid-seventies, cards were the equivelant of cash between me and my friends. Hope this makes sense.

Scott

[cguidi]

You can pop your graded cards in an out of these custom matted frames pretty easily!

[spaidly]

Originally Posted by cguidi

You can pop your graded cards in an out of these custom matted frames pretty easily!

Your timing is impeccable.

[Stampsfan]

These displays are fantastic. Two thoughts prevail...

One of the problems I have is I've recently finished my basement in a downsized place (kids are gone). Put up many vintage items, and I'm out of wall space. I couldn't put up cards, photos, autographed items without taking something down.

Second, last night we were at friends house, sitting in their newly renovated basement. Beautiful home, professionally done, and they have a few bucks too (now please forgive the hockey reference, but the thought is the same). On his walls are many autographed and unautographed pictures in displays that he picked up all in one day at Costco. Wayne Gretzky autographed 11x18, Sidney Crosby photos, Gordie Howe autographed jersey... everything professionally framed. And I walked away unimpressed. His wife thought she was telling me something interesting when she said "... and these little hologram stickers show you that they're real." Nothing collected or searched out, all Costco type things. He spent thousands on these photos, so autographed, and others are just multi photo framed collages of Steve Nash, Ali, and others.

Our new basement looks "cluttered" (according to my wife), and while yeah, it is, it is also a lifetime of collecting "clutter".

Not sure where I'm going with this, except I'd rather have my hard to find clutter, than a Bradford Plate type wanna be.

Regards,
Bob