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rebag and board?
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34 posts in this topic

I pulled my short box out of the closet after sitting for around 20 years, the books are pretty much all bagged and boarded or in mylars.  To keep them preserved properly, i should rebag and board these right?  What is a good rule of thumb on how often this should be done?

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Mylar is an Inert material that does not break down nor does it contain any acids.

If the books are in Mylar Bags with Acid Free Boards then they never have to be Rebagged or Reboarded.

Any books that are in Poly Bags should be rebagged every five years, polypropylene does contain acids and does break down over time and as it breaks down the acids are released.

I have books that are still in the same 1 Mil Mylites that they were placed in 30 years ago.

Just remember...

The paper and ink used in comic books (I assume it has gotten better over time) is acidic and breaks down over time so the comic book is virtually destroying itself. Your goal is to slow down this process as much as possible by storing the books in the proper conditions and keeping those conditions as consistent as possible.

 

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22 minutes ago, Heyrube said:

so then mylar with acid free boards should preserve for personal use as good as or better than say, a CGC slab?  Slabbing is more for getting a universal grade and selling/trading?

Better than CGC? No. As good as CGC? Pretty much.

Encapsulation is good for many reasons. Primarily; Preservation/protection, restoration detection/guarantee, and signature validation.

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On 10/11/2019 at 12:20 PM, shadroch said:

The idea is to preserve the book long enough to make a nice profit. Let the next owner deal with physics and chemistry.

We are then talking about two different things.

Your comment would be directed to an Investor, not a Collector, there is a BIG difference between the two.

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1 hour ago, Captainwonder said:

So some bags are sold that are different materials. I never knew this. Is there a way to tell which is which by looking at them? I’m just curious as I never noted what my bags were made of. 

There's Polypropylene bags and then there's Mylar bags

The latter is kinda like a plastic film. It's more rigid than a poly bag which you can ball up in your hand without a problem

The former is less expensive and what you would find going thru a dollar bin

Also, the environment is just as or even more important, ie the temperature range, humidity level & direct lighting

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4 hours ago, Captainwonder said:

So some bags are sold that are different materials. I never knew this. Is there a way to tell which is which by looking at them? I’m just curious as I never noted what my bags were made of. 

FWIW, I'm going to clarify a couple of things to help based upon 40 years of collecting comics and using various storage methods.  Typical plastic bags sell in packs of 100 and run about $15-$20 for each pack.  These are typically made from either polypropylene or polyethylene.  The former is more transparent (clearer) but tends to become friable after 10 years or so, depending on conditions.  The latter is less transparent (cloudier) but tends to turn yellow over 10 years or so and can even get a little sticky with adjacent bags.  My experience is that I have found books that were stored in polyethylene bags for 30 years and the bags looked atrocious- yellowish brown, sticky, kind of like a nasty nicotine stain.  Yet when I pulled the books out, they were glossy, fresh and had white pages.  Conversely, I've pulled books from my own collection that were in polypropylene bags, stored in temperature controlled rooms for 10-20 years, and although the bags looked pretty much the same aside from the folded flap being a little cracked, the books were yellow paged and looked their age.  Polypropylene bags came onto the market in the 80s and at the time were assumed to be superior to the older polyethylene bags.  I no longer believe this to be so.  In any case, both are petroleum based plastics that do off-gas and are generally not considered to be archival materials.  The same is true with PVC and other vinyl based products (i.e. top-loaders, rigid cases of all kinds, etc.)

When most people refer to mylar, they are using the brand name from Dupont for the generic polyester film.  Polyester film is one the most inert materials available and off-gases very, very little over large periods of time.  It's what the Library of Congress uses to preserve historical documents including the Declaration of Independence and many others.  Polyester film has been used for comics since the 70s and initially was only available in a thicker sheet that was welded on the bottom and sides to another sheet with a 1" flap extension at the top for inserting and removing comics.  These are usually referred to as Mylars, Archives, and other brand names depending on who is selling them.  Shortly after the introduction of Mylars, companies started making a very thin version of the same polyester film and called them "Mylites".  Although archival, they were oddly flimsy and easily wrinkled and relatively expensive for what they were thus they never really took off.

A little over 20 years ago, Ernie Gerber's company started producing a product they called "Mylites 2".  These were thicker, had all the qualities of Mylars but were flexible enough to fold over a flap and close.  Since then, for many experienced collectors, this has become the go to product for storing the vast majority of comics, comic magazines, pulps, etc.  Additionally, Gerber makes a truly acid free backing board which is of very high quality and when paired with a Mylite 2, is the cat's meow of storage materials, in my opinion.  Although a bit more expensive than plastic bags, it's easily worth it considering you really never have to change bags or worry about how your books are stored.  If you're interested in any of these supplies you can quickly get them through the boards own @HOTFLIPS for a very good price.  Additionally, here is the website for E. Gerber:

http://www.egerber.com

Hope this helps. (thumbsu

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On 10/12/2019 at 12:01 PM, mschmidt said:

The inner well of a CGC slab is made from an archival-safe, inert material, so, from a preservation point of view, it's no different than storing the book in a mylar (which is also inert & archival-safe) bag. 

This statement may or may not be correct.  CGC will not disclose what their cases are made from so there really isn't a way to know for sure.  Most likely, the rigid outer shell is not polyester film, may be PVC, in which case it is not archival.  Until they share what material they are using, it's probably unfair to make statements that it's equivalent to mylar.  2c

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3 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

Typical plastic bags sell in packs of 100 and run about $15-$20 for each pack.  These are typically made from either polypropylene or polyethylene.

:whatthe: Either you don't have a clue what you're talking about or you've been getting severely ripped off.

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1 minute ago, Lazyboy said:

:whatthe: Either you don't have a clue what you're talking about or you've been getting severely ripped off.

You must be completely correct.  How stupid of me.

https://www.bagsunlimited.com/product/3110/bnew-comicb-sleeve-6-78-x-10-38-br-3-mil-polyethylene-1-12-flapbrfits-1973-current-comics

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22 hours ago, Captainwonder said:

So some bags are sold that are different materials. I never knew this. Is there a way to tell which is which by looking at them? I’m just curious as I never noted what my bags were made of. 

Poly Bags are made of the same material and feel the same as plastic sandwich/freezer bags that you use everyday.

POLY BAGS

images.jpg

 

MYLAR

41YpyG3trVL._SX425_.jpg

Edited by marvelmaniac
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When I had my store, suppliers sold two different types of cheap bags.you had polypropylene and polyethylene. Both looked pretty much the same and both are fine for short term storage. Each type had its supporters and its detractors. One tended to get cloudy and even icky, but still protected the books. 

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