Comic Book Supplies, Necessities of the Serious CollectorWritten by Dave Gieber
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 ink and 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 dust and elements from which they came do you?Elements such as humidity, temperature, pollutants, human skin oils and even chemicals of printed materials themselves, will start to deteriorate and discolor your comic books from day one. Tools that have been developed over 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 future value of each comic book. Most all of these 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 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 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 preservation material manufacturing 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 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 investment worth it? It is also no secret that CGC uses these 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 discussions. But articles will open your eyes to what is available in comic book industry for preservation supplies these days.
| | The Successful Coin CollectorWritten by Jon Gammon
So you want to become a successful coin collector. Well you have some simple concepts that you must learn in order for you to become a good coin collector, and let’s face it, if you don't learn some key rules for collecting coins, you are not going to enjoy collecting coins. •Well I would say that EDUCATION would be most important factor for anyone to be a successful coin collector. Learn as much as you can about this wonderful hobby. Buy as many books and reading material on all aspects of coin collecting that you can get your hands on. This may even include subscribing to a few coin collecting magazines like Coin World. There are many online organizations, some listed on this site, and you can read about just about anything that there is to know about hobby of collecting coins. •Learn to be a coin collector. A true collector collects coins for right reasons. It is what he loves, it’s a true passion for him. It is what interests them most and they study market and learn what it is they are purchasing. Most collectors build collections for not only feel of hobby, but to make money as well. A true collector is building an investment and knows what he wants out of his collection. •Make sure you know where to get information you need to succeed in hobby. Coin magazines, brokers, and newsletters in hobby are a great way to keep up with what is going on in coin industry. In my opinion greatest place to find information on coins that you are looking to collect are from dealers and other collectors. Working with your local coin dealer, who is established and well informed would be one of your greatest relationships that you will have in your hobby.
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