How Well Can Museum Glass Protect Baseball Cards? The Field Test

I’ve decided to conduct a field test to determine just how well Museum Glass with 99% UV protection really protects baseball cards and other collectable memorabilia. I wanted to see how fast UV rays from the sun could fade colors so I picked up a comic book knowing that they’re typically made with cheaper materials. I also used a Juan Rivera Heritage card from Topps. Many of the premium baseball cards today have a protective UV coating but I wanted to test something that more closely resembled vintage baseball cards in materials without damaging anything of value – sorry Juan. With the summer solstice at hand this is the perfect time of year to test the affects of UV rays as they’re at their most powerful right now.

I’ve affixed the comic book and card to a board. In the picture above I’ve used arrows to point out the three different areas for comparison.

1) direct exposure to UV rays
2) areas protected with Museum Glass
3) control area – I flipped over a Bill Hall baseball card to block out all light – don’t take it personally Bill, it’s in the name of science

I plan to log the days and amount of time that I leave the cards exposed to direct sunlight. This may not be the perfect scientific experiment but I’m really looking forward to seeing some first hand results of the sun’s damaging UV rays and how well Museum Glass helps to protect memorabilia. Check back for periodic updates.

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