Preserving Military Patches

[skautdog]

I'm in the process of finally organizing my patch collection starting with my own unit patches. I plan to display each patch with an accompanying narrative. I've read that Hefty brand zip lock backs are polypropylene and therefore safe for holding/protecting the patches. Anyone have any information or a better way to protect the patches?

Thanks.

[patches]

See this earlier topic, some hints here to be found.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/73352-trying-to-find-a-new-way-to-display-patches/page__hl__+protecting%20+patches&do=findComment&comment=533015

[skautdog]

Thanks for your help, Patches. I'm new to the forum and it will take me some time to get up to speed. Thanks again!

[Sabrejet]

The biggest "danger" to patches is probably sunlight. Any patches on display need to be in a shady area out of direct sunlight so as to avoid long-term fading, or, better yet, inside an appropriate covered file or folder. Older wool/ felt patches can also fall victim to mothing so they'll need suitable protection too.

[CMDSlick]

I agree that sunlight is probably your largest enemy. You could use something like this to cover whatever protective packaging you're using. http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Protection-Window-Film-Wide/dp/B004JAW3KW

 

Hope this helps.

[Third Herd]

For years I have printed out pages like a stamp album and use page protectors, using drafting tape to mount the patches to the paper page. It takes a bunch of notebooks, but makes it easy to find a patch. From time to time you have to redo the pages since they keep adding patches and changing materials.

[Mitter2k1]

For the patches that will fit, I use top loaders for sport cards. I have some of the thicker ones made for game used cards from my baseball card collecting days. You can even put them in a penny sleeve before you put them in a top loader. And sport card boxes are made for these, so organization is pretty easy.

[sigma9r]

For the patches that will fit, I use top loaders for sport cards. I have some of the thicker ones made for game used cards from my baseball card collecting days. You can even put them in a penny sleeve before you put them in a top loader. And sport card boxes are made for these, so organization is pretty easy.

I've done this with beret flashes. As they tend to fall out of the book/sheets when handled by someone other than me, I have taken to taping the top of the cell with a label identifying the insignia.

I also had the bright idea of cross referencing the book, cell and page location of the flash in my database.

This a great idea but this a hobby, not a job!!

For patches I used CD media liners that fit in a slotted 4X6 card file. It serves my purposes and keeps me losing too much of my stuff!!!