Protective Bags for Cap Display.

[leigh kitchen]

Can anyone recommend a type of bag and a source of supply of them for protecting caps and berets please?

I'm always wary of plastic but a form of transparent, sealable bag seems a good idea for ease of identification, a form of display and protection - the main thing - against moths and dust.

[Odulf]

Hi Leigh,

First of all the main question: do you want to keep a display collection or a reference collection, because these are different lines of storage and use?

For keeping a reference (RN insignia) collection, I keep my cloth insignia in plastic (acid free) folders and bags, each numbered, and I keep images of ech individual badge (front and reverse), numbered accordingly. To make this manageble I have a simple excel-file, in which I can find any badge, linked to these images.

This works out pretty well, but I cannot put up a display. On the other hand it is easy to find the insignia and their particulars, and to describe these as variations in the columns in Excel. The functions of Excel give me much freedom to distinguish my insignia and to make a quick search possible.

I hope that this may serve you

 

[leigh kitchen]

Thanks. I keep my British coth formation signs and my British army photos and regimental christmas cards. German, Polish, Serbian, Austro-Hungarian etc army photos in protective transparent sleeves filed in boxes, downsizing storage from loose leaf binders made of "unsafe" materials.

I'll do the same with German insignia.

I need to protect my military capswhich are mainly crammed into small glass showcasesshowcases as best I can fit them without warping or otherwise damaging them.

Preservation is more important to me than display.

[leigh kitchen]

See what I mean - not a good "system".

I"ll work on arranging the caps better. Meanwhile I need to put them each in a protective bag to guard against moths. beetles and dust.

[peter monahan]

The other possibility, though it would be harder and more expensive to achieve, would be to get a few yards of cheap cotton and run up some cloth drawstring bags.  Half an hour on a sewing machine would easily produce 20 bags, if you used a standard size, and twill tape makes good drawstrings.  Use it myself for period looking bags for 19th century stuff.  just be sure to launder the cloth first to get out any sizing and dye residue.  Yo can then letter the bags in permanent marker or tie or staple tags to the strings  or t a corner of the bag. 

[leigh kitchen]

Ta. but too much trouble for me to go to - sounds like the old "ticking" bagsbags for bearskins etc.

I need to rearrange the caps so that they're not going to get bent. tear stitching etc. easier said than done. but a quick 'n easy way of protecting them from the dreaded moth is what I'm after, I know that some people use plastic bags.  Wary as I  am of condensation and mould  that could be the answer.  I'll hunt around for suitable sized bags, perhaps self - sealing, but just wonder if anyone knows of a range of suitable "archival" bags.

[speagle]

I just used 1 gallon ziplock bags. Works for me. The ones without bags are plastic tops.

[leigh kitchen]

Thanks, that's along the lines I was thinking, any recommended supplier? I'm thinking of those made in a "safe" plastic rather than supermarket or stationary store items?.

I plan on avoiding placing them on a flat surface, not that you'd believe I was that fussy from the photos of jumbled caps & berets, but they're stacked the way they are at the moment in an effort to ease pressure on peaks etc.

[speagle]

No other suggestions Leigh. The Ziploc bags have worked well for my purposes.

Good luck

[leigh kitchen]

Ta, I have a few of the bags, time to pick up more.