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Total amateur looking for some advice!

I have developed an interest in collecting 8 x 10 autographed photos. What would you recommend as far as storing/preserving these? Would a Toploader from cardboard gold be sufficient? Or would I have to put another plastic sleeve on the photo before putting in the Toploader? I know it’s important to have an acid free Toploader, which I believe cardboard gold is. I just want to make sure that I am storing/protecting the autographed photos correctly. Thank you in advance! Ricky

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Permalink Reply by David Lewis on February 6, 2021 at 2:45pm

Ricky, As long as the top loader is archival/acid free you should be good to go. The industry standard is probably "Ultra Pro". But I have stored photos in cheaper Staples brand archival for many, many years with no ill effect.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Cerreta on February 6, 2021 at 3:03pm

Thanks David. I was told to put the photo in the plastic sleeve BEFORE putting in the toploader. Apparently, the ink can stick to the toploader. Is there any truth in this? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by David Lewis on February 6, 2021 at 3:31pm

Ricky, Back in the day when I was going out to LA to get signatures, I would lay out my daily haul to air dry a few hours and then put them in an archival top loader. Standard blue and black "Sharpie" colors dry pretty quick, while silver and gold markers can take more time. Things might have changed ….I haven't used bullion colored markers in 10 years. The actor Mako, after signing for me also used a red stamp on the photo, that did actually stick to the archival top loader…..You only need to put the photo in a archival/ acid free top loader.

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Permalink Reply by BC on February 8, 2021 at 2:23pm

I do a sleeve, then a toploader. I store them all in cardboard bankers boxes which are the perfect size for them. I have around 180-200 photos like this.