If you want to keep your comic book collection in tiptop
shape, comic book supplies will become part of your
collecting life. As soon as a magazine is printed there are
natural environmental forces going to work to try and
destroy the ink and the paper. You have put in a lot of
time, effort and enjoyment in acquiring all your comics.
You don”t want them to turn back to the dust and elements
from which they came do you? So the proper use of comic
book supplies is essential.
Elements such as humidity, temperature, pollutants, human
skin oils and even the chemicals of the printed materials
themselves, will start to deteriorate and discolor your
comic books from day one. Comic book supplies and tools
that have been developed over the years to help us combat
these natural forces are de-acidification paper, polymer
type storage bags, stiff backing material, storage boxes
and desiccants (dehumidification materials). Not only will
these comic book supplies protect your comics for your own
enjoyment, they will add to reinforce the future value of
each comic book.
Most all of these comic book supplies can typically be
located down at your local comic book shop. But as I have
discovered lately, there can be a world of difference in
preservation abilities depending on what materials are used
in the manufacture of comic book supplies. Quite typically
what you may find downtown will be of sufficient protective
quality to protect your comics for quite a while. Although,
polybags, to put your comics into, are quite common and
fairly cheap, Mylar bags are definitely the way to go. They
will protect for 100 years (that may be a little overboard)
as opposed to 2 or 3 years for poly.
There has been a lot of elaborate science, particularly
chemistry, which has gone into comic book supplies
preservation material manufacturing the last several years.
MicroChamber material has been developed that will increase
preservation from de-acidification and environmental
breakdown for a vastly superior time period as opposed to
typical comic book supplies materials available today.
Beware though, comic book supplies manufactured with this
new material can become quite costly. But if you have some
serious collector”s items, which you feel are worth a
significant amount of cash, isn”t the investment worth it?
It is also no secret that CGC uses these comic book
supplies materials in every comic book they grade.
I have created a page at my comic book site, which
incorporates links to some rather technical scientific
articles on preservation and using MicroChamber materials.
You can read an in-depth discussion at
www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/comic-book-supplies.html .
Be forewarned though, You may need a moderate understanding
of chemistry and physics to completely follow some of the
discussions. But the articles will open your eyes to what
is available in the comic book industry for comic book
supplies preservation supplies these days.
Now if you have a rather rare back issue that may well have
a high dollar value, here is a process worth considering.
De-acidification products are usually used to neutralize
acids in the paper prior to storage of most paper products
of a pulp nature. This is not to be taken lightly, as it is
considered by most to be an extensive form of restoration.
The current understanding of the process is that the
staples are removed and the sheets are submerged, film
developer style, in a bath of de-acidification material.
Then the entire book is rebuilt with new staples. This
process can cost around $50 per comic book, when done by a
professional, but will restore and increase the life
expectancy of your comic book by many years. This process,
in my opinion, should only be considered for already
deteriorated comics that may have a considerable future
worth if restored.
One final item to consider, especially if you live in a
high humidity area is the use of descants as part of your
comic book supplies arsenal. A desiccant is a chemical
sieve for water, and is available for industry use in small
packets or in buckets. For our purposes an 8-oz can (that
looks like you”d keep a grasshopper in) can be simply put
inside the box to absorb moisture and indicates when it is
full by changing from crystal colored to pink. These same
cans can then be reused by baking them for 3-4 hours in an
oven at about 350 F. Each canister can cost around $9-$10
from one supplier called GAYLORDMART. 1 canister per short
box and 2 per long box should be sufficient. Another
consideration is the little packets typically found in a
box of shoes. These are even more inexpensive, but would
require further research to insure no harm would come to
each comic book.
So as you build your valuable comic book collection, you
will want to put some serious consideration into the comic
book supplies that you will need. Materials and supplier
source will become important variables in your overall
decisions. I will have more interesting topics and sources
from time to time at my site, so come on over and visit.
You may even want to bookmark it.
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