We’re good at collecting. Whether we started as kids and never stopped or are picking up after a long absence, we know how to buy packs, singles, sets, collections, old programs, photos and anything else sports related. Not all of us, however, are good at making sure it’s just not a big accumulation of stuff. We sometimes put stuff up on the wall that probably shouldn’t be there. We toss our binders and boxes on a shelf. We cover every square inch without much regard for how it might look to someone else.
Sometimes it’s just because…well…we have too much stuff. There’s no way to display it all and sometimes the task of displaying some of it becomes too overwhelming, like deciding which family pictures should go up on the wall. For many of us, our collections tell a story. Sometimes it’s about what we like. Sometimes it’s about who we met. Sometimes it’s about where we went. Other times, it’s just a reflection of our taste. Making sure your collection–or at least the portion that is display worthy–looks good and makes you feel good about it–might require some tips.
Sonja See, a manager at FastFrame, a custom framing shop that specializes in sports memorabilia in suburban St. Louis, has seen plenty of collectors come through her shop with signed jerseys, autographed baseballs and other memorabilia. She’ll provide some tips on how to show it all off, but from the start, she needs to find out how much space you have available and which items are the ones that would make for a good story.
As collectors converged on the Gateway Convention Center for the All-American Collectors Show over the weekend, she talked with Aisha Sultan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how to display the items that were brought home and the ones that you’ve got in your hobby room right now. There’s another link inside the story with 10 tips for doing it right, although you probably don’t want to try #7 unless your jerseys are of the replica variety.