Vintage toys are loved by so many people today with toy collectors all across the globe. Many people in recent years began toy collecting, buying, and selling. They admire those toys from years past and search out special items to add to their collection. However, as years go by, these toys become more and more likely to suffer damage and wear easily. Toys in good condition may go for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. So many people invest in the perfect toys to add to their collection and proudly display each item. However, if you own a vintage toy collection you may find it difficult to keep your items in pristine condition. The materials used to make toys see a lot of problems when owners try to keep them from damage. Follow along in our blog to see the best ways for storing and preserving vintage toys.
What if my toys get dusty or greasy? What if they become yellow and sticky? How do I prevent my toys from damage and keep them in pristine condition? Follow along in our blog as we solve these common questions. We will go into each factor that plays into how to best store and preserve your vintage toys long-term. We will mention the best possible ways you can go about keeping the current condition of your toys without altering their original state.
Follow Along to See How Storing and Preserving Vintage Toys Properly Makes an Impact
In order to keep storing and preserving vintage toys to the best possible capacity, there are many factors to consider. Proper environment and handling contribute greatly to the overall preservation of vintage toys. Since many different things factor into how much a toy receives damage, it’s important to note the ways to keep up with your toys. Along with this, knowing how to best store your toys makes a huge impact. Storage makes a difference in preserving your toys and keeping them in good condition. Join us as we go through each factor to keep your toys from damage long-term.
Correct Environment
The correct environment plays such a big role into how properly storing and preserving vintage toys makes a difference. Many people store their old vintage toys in basements, garages, and attics. However, these places often withstand a lot of temperature fluctuations and threats to the items through the environmental or climate changes. Some typical ways toys become damaged include temperature changes, sunlight exposure, dust, humidity, and storing improperly. Toys placed in areas with direct sunlight wear easily and become yellow on plastic bubble packaging. The sunlight also causes fading, discoloration, and brittleness. White on plastic toys and figures often become a more yellow-tinted color. Along with this, the clear plastic on packaging, specifically bubble packaging, becomes yellow and brittle over time.
Temperature changes cause too high of heat or too cold temperatures for toy storage. Also, temperature and climate changes cause humidity which makes toys sticky, moldy, and warped. Regular ventilation helps keep these toys in better environment conditions to keep from extra damage. Storing toys improperly also leads to other damage, including dust build up. Dust impacts toys by peeling and scratching off paint after long periods of time. Also, for toys that feature adhesive details on the sides and tight spaces, cleaning becomes very difficult. The dust particles gather in tight spaces on toys as well as adhesive stickers, corroding them and causing them to peel off. All these factors remain avoidable with the correct environment for your toy collection.
Climate Controlled Storage
Simply moving items from a place prone to environmental changes makes a big difference in storing and preserving vintage toys properly. Since toys easily become brittle in high heat and very cold temperatures, cooler and more regulated places keep toys at their best condition. Although the inside of a house works well for some people, those with bigger or more expensive collections may consider a different place. Climate controlled places such as storage units keep items in their ideal conditions. Climate control storage units maintain a consistent temperature and keep humidity out regardless of any outside temperatures and weather conditions. As long as your toys stay out of places prone to environmental changes, they remain safe from those factors that damage them. These include temperature stability, light and UV protection, humidity, and limitations to dust or debris damage.
Many places with environmental threats cause warping to items due to high heat and cold temperatures. They often bend, crack, and begin to break from this poor storage. Also from storing in sunlight, those brittle and yellowing plastic pieces or packaging starts to crack and lose its original quality. As mentioned before, humidity also causes a lot of problems such as rusting metal, making toys sticky, causing mold, and warping wood. These places with cool temperatures and climate control help immensely to maintain the quality and condition of your loved vintage toys.
Proper Display
The proper display also makes a huge impact for storing and preserving vintage toys long-term. Using high quality display cases, protective covers, and acrylic cases provide great care to preserving your vintage toys. High quality display cases feature shelves to display items with the collection entirely enclosed in glass. Open displays on bookshelves and counters require a lot of extra cleaning and care. However, with high quality display cases, the toys remain free from dust and debris. Along with this, some high quality display cases feature UV protection which allows the item to preserve it’s plastic longer and keep from fading. Toy collectors also may choose to place lighting in their display cases to give the toys an epic appearance. LED cold lighting may provide a good source for these display cases to ensure no extra heat is near the toys.
Protective covers help keep items such as magazines, posters, and comic books clean and free from damage. This also allows them to remain flat in shape rather than the potential dangers of bending and discoloration. Your items in protective plastic covers maintain their good condition as they also remain free from water damage. The plastic creates a protective barrier for each item to best store and preserve your vintage toys. Then, for items such as action figures and smaller toys, acrylic cases may stand as a great option for optimal preservation and storage. Although not all vintage toys should get sent out for grading, toys become enclosed in an acrylic case during the grading process. These cases keep the toy from outside damage such as bending, discoloration, dust, humidity, etc. and keep toys in pristine condition.
Handle With Care
The second main thing to keep in mind to store and preserve your vintage toys long-term is to always handle them with care. These old toys require cleaning, proper packaging for transportation, and less movement to keep them in good condition. Any sort of improper care leaves toys damaged and losing value fast. The owner must know how to best care for their items, clean them, and preserve them for years to come. Also, while moving toys from one place to another, keep in mind to package items well to refrain from damage. Packing peanuts, bubble wrap, foam, and packing paper prove to help absorb shock when transporting toys.
It is also important to store toys upright to help the toy remain balanced and unharmed. Some toys carry a heavier weight on one side and can crush small parts if balanced the wrong way on shelves and through transport. Parts become brittle or scratched if not placed upright on a good surface. In order to keep your vintage toys in the best condition, standing figures and toys upright causes good preservation results.
Cleaning Toys
Now we will mention the importance of cleaning regularly for best storing and preserving vintage toys. Even good quality display cases let air and dust particles slip in over time. Although your toys need less cleaning with display cases than on open shelves, regular cleaning keeps the items in good condition. Since dust appears unnoticeable until it begins building up, dusting off your toys and display cases helps immensely with keeping the condition good. Although other toys in acrylic cases don’t need dusted off or cleaned, the case may get dust build up and begin to cloud up or scratch the acrylic if not cleaned.
Another thing to note when wanting clean toys is to make sure your hands stay clean when handling the items. Oils, sweat, dead skin cells, and other transferred material directly impacts toys when touched. The contact may cause friction, pressure, and damage to the paint or delicate parts. Oils, sweat, and skin cells affect the toys by causing discoloration, breakage, and becoming sticky due to vaporizing plasticizers. Cleaning regularly and keeping your toys stored properly will keep from any long-term major affects to your vintage toys.
Know Your Toys
Now we will mention the importance of knowing your toys. When handling them with care it stands important to know what you have, the materials of those toys, their release date, and any fragile parts on the toys. Knowing any flaws on the items you own helps with handling them with care. Some items are known to carry flaws and more prone to falling apart than other toys. These items need extra care and caution through storage and knowing how to preserve them. Each material also needs special care. For instance, plastic, metal, and wood all require different cleaning methods. Also, knowing how to avoid paint fading and chipping while cleaning remains an important factor as well.
Although dust and heat cause damage, cleaning your items improperly also causes damage. A gentle rag or paint brush works well for lightly dusting off toys. For plastic items, plain dish soap and water works well with caution around stickers, paint, crevices, and attached details. However, metal items may see signs of rust and corrosion while wood may become moldy with use of water. Older toys may also need extra care from the many years since its release. Since toys easily show damage and wear after short periods of time, older toys require just as much if not more care due to their age. It also stands important to note any fragile parts on toys to know how to best display them. This also shows importance when looking at how to best transport your toys to make sure all fragile parts are wrapped and secured well, left unharmed.
Inventory Lists
Lastly, inventory lists provide security and other benefits to keep your vintage toys in the best condition. These lists help keep an easy access to your toys at all times. With organization and knowing where each toy sits, you can easily access your toys when you need to without rummaging between other toys or in boxes. Inventory lists also allow the owner to track all updates with toys including any damage, cleaning schedule, and how many of an item there is.
The inventory lists provide an opportunity to track how often you clean items to keep your vintage toys in the best condition. Also, with the inventory list, you know the location of all the toys in storage which allows for the least amount of damage. Toys remain in their place, free from damage and harm. With inventory lists, labels on totes and shelves help locate items easier and keep things organized.
Final Thoughts
There are many things to consider when storing and preserving your vintage toys long-term. However, with the correct environment and handling the items with care, most causes of damage and harm to items become avoidable. Storing your vintage toys properly stands incredibly beneficial to the preservation of all items. With these factors applied, your vintage toys will last many more years.
Do You Have Old And Used Vintage Toys?
If you have a collection of old and used toys, you can turn those toys into cash. There is no reason to let those old toys collect dust. Contact us today to sell your vintage toy collection.
About the Author
Chris Ingledue is the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. His vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day he works in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year; scouring the internet – like we did the Sears Catalog of yesteryear – for the next great treasure, awaiting the arrival of the postman as if he was Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. For Chris, every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!