Care for collectible items

How to Care for Collectible Figures and Statues

Our collectibles require some care to ensure that, even years later, they’ll look just as great as they did the first day you took them out of the box to display them. It’s not rocket science, though—you just need to follow some basic rules.

1) Do not expose figurines to direct sunlight. In other words, place figurines, statues, etc., so that they aren’t exposed to direct sunlight; instead, place them on the opposite side of the room from windows or in darker areas of the room. We primarily use artificial lighting to illuminate statues and figurines. It’s a very bad idea to place your prized collectibles on a windowsill, for example, where they’ll be beautifully visible but at the cost of their colors fading over time—which, as the classic saying goes, “you don’t want.”

2) Figurines and statues need to be dusted from time to time, because you really don’t want a Hot Toys Terminator T-1000 in a brutal action pose covered in two millimeters of dust. Here, it’s best to use the softest brush possible—for example, an unused makeup brush (meaning one that hasn’t been used for anything other than dusting off the figurine or statue)—and a can of compressed air is also a great helper. Use a soft brush to remove all dust from the figure or statue, and clean any remaining particles—such as those in crevices—by blowing them away with compressed air from the can. As mentioned earlier, use the softest possible brushes to avoid scratching the surface of the figurines or statues.

3) Humidity is the enemy, so place figurines and statues only in a dry environment with, if possible, a constant, stable temperature. If you have problems with humidity, we recommend placing a dehumidifier as close as possible.

4) Costume maintenance on collectible figures is also a frequent topic of discussion among collectors. The vast majority of 1/6 scale figures have fabric costume parts, and if you feel that a particular pose might cause the fabric to become distorted or develop unsightly permanent creases, collectors recommend regularly changing the figure’s position to prevent this from happening.

5) External protection is also important, not least for presentation purposes. Probably the best-known option among collectors is DETOLF—glass display cases from an unnamed Swedish furniture manufacturer. The vast majority of these meet the needs of collectors of 1/6-scale figures. These are among the most widely used display cases by collectors worldwide. Of course, there are also variants from other manufacturers and for other types of collectibles, such as trading cards, Funko figures, etc., which you can find in our selection here. As for collectible figurines, they can also be placed in a DETOLF, but you need to take the weight of the figurines into account. PVC figurines aren’t a problem, since they’re lightweight, but definitely don’t put a heavy polystone statue from Sideshow Collectibles or Prime1—definitely don’t put them in the DETOLF!

Do you have any special cleaning methods for figures and statues that have worked well for you? Share them with us and other collectors by writing to us at info@jedishop.cz