Reba

I wouldn't buy anything in an existing frame. Ever. I'd ask the seller to prove it can be safely removed from the frame first. The page can always be put back in its original frame if needed (that tape on the back is easy to replace) but there's no way to know what you're getting until you try and get the page out. I've got lots of stuff framed but consider the framing just a lost cost if I sell anything. Buyers are surely gonna want to know the page I'm selling hasn't been murdered by a dodgy frame job. Framing might seem expensive but art restoration is even more expensive, assuming the damage is even fixable, so you want to be sure how much of a problem you're potentially getting here. If it's just something cheap and nice though, go for it!

Love hearing everyone's tales. I was buying art for my house about 6 years ago and looked at a lot of 'mainstream' art in galleries before being honest about what my eyes loved most! I knew original comic art existed but had never considered buying any so was pretty cautious and looked at lots of pages for months before buying my first page. I genuinely thought I'd only buy one or two things for the wall so I wanted to be sure to choose something I wouldn't change my mind on. Ended up going with a pretty modestly priced Immonen/von Grawbadger page for my first purchase and held it in my hands...and became a collector! At which point, caution and fiscal responsibility fell by the wayside - lol. Yes, my first piece is still on the wall and I'd still buy it now.

Hi everyone. This is my very first post here but I figured it was time to finally join in since I have a lot of framed art on the wall. Going back to the original post, with good framing you don't need to keep the art in mylar although I might consider that approach if I was using pre-bought frames where I was swapping the art out a lot. Agree with previous posters who advocate for finding a smaller local framer and building an ongoing relationship. I found my framer by finding out who the local art galleries use and then finding out who that person recommend after discovering they exclusively do gallery work. All my comic art is framed absolutely identically because I planned from the very start that that there would be a lot of art on the wall and this would give me the fun of being able to move it around easily for different at home 'exhibitions' (it does!). The comic art is all framed 'float mounted' using Japanese hinges because I like to see the whole page but then I vary the look of things in the house by mixing up how the non-comic art is framed. As a general rule though, there's not a lot of framing 'design' involved and no frames are much more than a secure, simple and safe scaffold for the art. Anything I have under a mat has no hinges attached at all and I live with the 'risk' that the art might slip. My tip for anyone using Japanes hinges, as I do for the float mounts for comic art, is to learn how to remove them yourself. I'm lucky that my framer has a paper conservationist on hand so I've been able to learn this task because I didn't want to be caught out if I wanted to sell a page and my framer has closed. Yep, I've tested this out by removing pages from both the hinges and the frame and I can't tell where the hinge was at all and I was pretty super keen to be able to find even the teensiest tiniest mark. Everyone will like different types of framing and design and displays so my tip would be to go with whatever framing amd design works for your eyes but maybe think about the hanging systems in your house. I have old-fashioned picture rails where the art hangs on wires so I can really easily change the order and height of the art in any room without leaving holes in the wall. Basically, with only the same number of pieces framed, I can dramatically change the look of my exhibit. Sometimes just moving different pieces next to each other can refresh your eyes for a piece you might have thought you were entirely familiar with. Oh, and I only use the 99% UV perspex while keeping art out out direct sunlight because glass is HEAVY and riskier to transport. My pieces are super light to move around. Thanks for the conversation everyone (and all the conversations where I've just been a lurker)!