Storing Autographed Photos (Thinking of an Album) - Any Suggestions/Tips/Etc.?

Hey guys. Thanks in advance for any input.

I'm trying to come up with a way to store my autographed photos and postcards. I'm looking for a way to put them away in a way that I can still easily pull them out to look at them and show them off to visitors. Many of these are things I have printed myself on regular Kodak gloss or semi-gloss photopaper and signed with either regular black Sharpie or gold Sharpie.

I was leaning towards an album, but I wasn't sure if the weight of an album full of prints and pages on top of one another might cause the ink to come off of the pictures and imprint itself on the plastic pages. I was especially worried about the gold inks because I noticed some gold came up just from holding one of my prints in a plastic page during a hockey game. I would be using Ultra Pro brand pages of the appropriate sizes, not using any of the sticky photo album stuff out there. I was also worried if the binder didn't close right I could end up with imprints from the metal rings in my pictures.

I'm not looking to put them on display, like hanging on the wall or framed on a bookshelf. Any suggestions other than the, even if it's a good way to store them that may not be all that easy to go through them. Right now, I just have them sleeved with cardboard backing and sitting various flat, safe places around my desk and closet shelving.

I may as well show off some of my autographed prints while I'm here :

(my original design, 8.5x11 and 4x6)



(my original design, 8.5x11 and 4x6)



(8.5x11 done in the style of 2010 Topps Magic Football)

I would think clear pages and a binder would work. Store them upright, and you won't have an issue with pressure.

or, get a ton of toploaders and store them in a box that's made to hold them.

TBTwinsFan said:

I would think clear pages and a binder would work. Store them upright, and you won't have an issue with pressure.

or, get a ton of toploaders and store them in a box that's made to hold them.

Click to expand...

This is a stupid question, but do you just mean any box that's the right size, or are the specific boxes/cases designed to hold them a certain way? I never really looked around to know if there is.

I remember purchasing some 8x10s off an older couple at a show, and they had them stored in some boxes that were a pretty snug fit, but allowed me to flip through them easily. The photos were stored vertically.

I don't exactly know what the dimensions were, but I wish I did. I'd like some as well.

i have most of my photos in a clear page in a binder they are easy to go through and easy to store alot of photos

Just fyi, gold/silver will wipe right off of home photo paper, regardless of what you do

Thanks for the input, guys.

tikitomoka said:

Just fyi, gold/silver will wipe right off of home photo paper, regardless of what you do

Click to expand...

Well that certainly sucks. Guess I'll just stick to adding a faded spot for black ink.

I have mine in zip up binders. I keep them in regular poly pages. I don't think it's a good idea keeping them in toploaders as, depending on what they are signed with, they can smudge.

Yep, from what I've heard, most 8x10s will eventually get ruined in Top Loads.

I'm no expert but I think you're supposed to put them in sheets. Just to be safe I'd go with Ultra Pro brand. Put those in a Binder and you should be fine, but just to be safe I'd store them with the Binders laying down...

Thanks for the input, gt. I would have thought the opposite - store the binders standing up so there's not weight coming down on the images to cause ink to imprint off onto the pages.

They don't need to be laying down. As long as the binders are full or have extra padding to prevent warping, they are better off vertical.

If you get a zip up binder, like the ones made by five star, they are pretty sturdy and won't warp.

I'll go with a zip one and maybe a plastic air packager to help keep its shape until I fill it up enough. Thanks guys.