How to display your treasured autographs ?

I have been collecting autographs now for almost 20 years. I am no where a expert but do not make the mistakes that I did before. This is a question for the experts and the more advanced serious collectors if you will. I am in the process of putting together a Civil War collection and would like to know what would be the best way to display these autos without fear of browning or fadeing as these are well over a 100 years old. Thanks in advance for the help

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Comment by Lou reves on April 24, 2011 at 6:25pm: Good topic Roger and a needed one. The older documents and photos from that time period seem to fade bad in the wrong climate and light. I also am wondering about this? And do the new light bulbs have any effect on paper and autographs from the 1860's?

Comment by Rick Badwey on April 24, 2011 at 7:09pm: Roger, I have been framing historical items for over 20 years for dealers, museums and collectors and can tell you first hand you MUST use UV filtering glass.

Tru Vue which filters out 98% to 99% of the UV light is recommended. There is much lower UV glass that distributors and manufacturers are pushing to framers as a substitute to save them money and increase their profit.....avoid this junk.

All too often I have taken apart recent frame jobs with "museum quality", "archival quality" and the like printed on labels on the back only to find the opposite.

Make sure you get only 100% RAG MATTING....period! And do NOT allow the framer to use anything but 100% archival white or blue/gray corrugated behind that (a double backing layer).

I have interviewed framers for jobs with me and only a few I have encountered have followed this concept. (a couple now work for me).

If you have your framer follow the above to a "T" and avoid DIRECT sunlight or florescent lighting, you will be fine.

Comment by Steve Zarelli on April 25, 2011 at 3:48pm: Any thoughts on the best ball cubes for displaying baseballs? Ultra Pro and Pro Mold make UV protected cubes that supposedly filter 98.5% of UV rays.

Comment by Roger Furr on May 5, 2011 at 4:20pm: I have my autographs in UV protected cases but I have them in a show case with a light on them. What kind of bulb do the experts suggest that you use in the showcase?

Comment by Steve Zarelli on May 5, 2011 at 4:33pm: Incandescent is probably the best. Fluorescent has very high UV output and I believe CFL is also higher than incandescent bulbs.

Comment by Rick Badwey on May 5, 2011 at 7:39pm: University Products, which distributes archival and museum quality materials to museums, collectors, etc. has great archival lighting.

Also try Pegasus http://www.pegasuslighting.com/uv-filters.html

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