The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just got an amazing set of 4 edison diamond discs with their original sleeves from ebay. They are from 1917 so they are quite fragile and crumbly..the slightest movement causes pieces to fall off. I obviously need to store these separately from the discs themselves. How do you store your old record sleeves safely?

buy some 10" clear plastic record sleeves from ebay, they will keep your sleeves safe
Alex

Protect them from any exposure to excess humidity and heat. Clear plastic protective sleeves can be used to store and protect those especially rare and/or pristine original paper record sleeves.

buy a 12x12x4 cardboard box for 99 cents from your local moving box store, put the sleeves in it (along with any more you acquire over the next 20 years), slide it under the bed and forget about them.

Reunite the sleeves with the records if you should ever decide to sell the records.

I have quite a few vintage 10" record sleeves; I store them in generic, one gallon ziploc storage bags after removing the zipper. The bags end up being about 10 ½" x 11", perfect for the sleeves. I purchase generic bags (no reason for brand name bags here) at our local deep discount Dollar General store, then cut off the zipper. It is crucial that the zipper be cut off or the entry will be too small for the fragile sleeve and will tear them when you try to insert them. The bags on the internet run from about $.29 to $.90 each; the generic bags come in boxes of 20-25 for $2 or $3, so they run from $.10 to $.20. After cutting off a few zipper tops, you will learn how to get a clean, smooth cut. I find it helps to flatten bent sleeve corners when I put them in the bags; the bags help keep the sleeve flat like it should be. I have not found bags suitable for 12" or 7", but have not looked very hard.