Author Topic: Moving a collection  (Read 13609 times)

Offline Darth Broem

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Moving a collection
« on: April 28, 2005, 12:03 PM »
I will be hauling quite a bit of my collection from Illinois to the Phoenix area in the next month or so.   I will be taking with me lots of packaged and loose 12 inch figures, carded and lose 3 3/4 figures, and loose vehicles from both the modern and vintage lines.  Although mostly it's modern era stuff. 

Anyone done this before?  Moved a fairly big collection from one state to another?  Right now I have a lot of stuff in "tubs".  However, I don't really have any sort of packing material around anything in the tubs. 

I am just open to any sort of suggestions or problems anyone might have run into that I may try to avoid. 

Oh, and another thing.  How do you guys keep your stuff in the dry climate?  I will probably be forced to put some stuff in the garage out there in Mesa, AZ. 
« Last Edit: April 28, 2005, 12:07 PM by Darth Broem »

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2005, 12:48 PM »
I've moved a few times with my collection.  I've dealt with movers too so you may have it a little better if you're moving yourself, but not too much of a difference.

I put everything into large rubbermaid bins.  My carded collection came through just fine with a couple of dinged bubbles when one mover dropped a bin down a flight of stairs and the lid popped off.  Now that all my Carded figures (on the "standard" sized cards anyway) are in protecto-paks, I forsee no further trouble there.

If you kept the boxes for your ships, I'd suggest putting them back in them.  Otherwise, I'd suggest dismantling them as much as possible putting them in rubbermaid bins and wrap them in towells or something for padding.

Hope this helps.  I'll post more if I can think of anything.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2005, 07:11 PM by Matt_Fury »
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Offline Rob

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2005, 12:49 PM »
I moved my entire collection twice last year...

Carded figures I just put into large boxes with plenty of packing peanuts...

Loose figures I put 3 or 4 into a small ziplock bag (enough that I could keep the weapons straight), separated the ziplock bags into which movie they came from and then had a box for each film...

12" I didn't have too much of at the time, but it'd have been pretty much the same thing - bigger bags of course...  Then I just made sure those boxes went on top of everything else in the back of the truck and wouldn't slide around...

Offline Darth Broem

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2005, 08:38 AM »
I tried to pack away some items that were on display last night.  This should be interesting to see if they survive this move.  Thanks for the tips.  I did employ some of the techniques. 

Offline Jedidz23

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #4 on: May 9, 2005, 04:19 PM »
Well, whenever I move, I put all my stuff in rubermaid containers, and never have had a problem.  Of course, I make sure and move the Star Wars stuff myself, so as to avoid any "Imperial Entangelments."   ;D

I don't know what to tell you about the garage thing.  I would be interested to see what otheres think.  You ought to just give your stuff to me, and I'll watch over it for you.   ;)

Offline bobafett14

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2005, 08:44 AM »
When I moved, the only 2 items to not survive were my R2 Pepsi cooler (the dome cracked) and my Don Post Vader Mask(the helmet cracked).  This was in the same UHaul same trip, had some stuff stacked that shifted and fell on both these items.  It was the last trip and almost everything was in boxes, since these 2 don't easily box, I put them kind of on top of everything-well-it didn't work.

My advise-don't try to cram too much stuff into huge boxes.  Smaller easy to carry boxes work well.

More $$$ items, put those up front with you or in passenger seats, etc. Don't lump them in a pile with everything else.

Watch when stacking, lots of stuff can easily be crushed very quickly with too much weight

Remember if something could go wrong...it might.
 
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #6 on: October 8, 2007, 12:55 AM »
I'm getting ready to move again and spent today packing up stuff that was not already in rubbermaid bins awaiting the collection room I'll have in our new house.

Luckily, I kept all the boxes for my MR sabers so they should be just fine with the movers.  Also, all my carded figures (with the exception of my ROTS figures) are in protecto paks so they should survive just about anything.

It's nice that we're just moving from Ft Collins to Colorado Springs....our stuff will be loaded onto the truck one day and delivered to our house the next...no three months in storage like when I moved from NC to Alaska!  :o
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Offline clonebuyer111

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2008, 06:49 PM »
so it is better to move your collections your self? or put it together with your other stuff in the moving truck?

Offline Morgbug

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2008, 11:26 AM »
so it is better to move your collections your self? or put it together with your other stuff in the moving truck?


Is the mover insured?  For how much and what conditions are put on stuff. 

I had my stuff in a bunch of rubbermaid tubs taped closed.  They were sequentially numbered too so I could check quickly if they were safely delivered. 

I moved my more valuable stuff myself though. 
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Offline poodachoo

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2009, 03:56 AM »
i had to move my collection 5,000 km by car i found after moving for the fifth time that postage boxes

are the best and a handy method of standing loose figures upright in a kind of mosh pit situation works well they seem to hold each other upright reducing the risk of bending.the bt box fits x4 into a removalist box perfectly and i made sure i transported them :)

I refer to all things in metric and most everything is related to Australian items such as the boxes.

Offline JediJman

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2009, 11:02 AM »
I have always moved my stuff on my own - it's not worth having the movers potentially break stuff and if you have a big colelction, you're probably going to pay extra for their time as well.

I haven't tried this, but someone mentioned you can get free mailing boxes from USPS.  They will give you a stack of pre-paid shipping boxes, but you don't actually pay anything unless you mail them.  I'm not suggesting youmail your stuff, but it's a nice way to get boxes for free if they're the right size for what you need.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2022, 11:39 AM »
I'm resurrecting this thread because I am moving my family from Colorado to Florida.  I thought it would be a good idea to document the experience so maybe it can help others.

Part 1
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2022, 01:08 PM »
As I continue down this holy crap I have to move my entire collection road:

Part 2: Storing and Staging.
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Offline Qui-Gon Jim

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #13 on: May 13, 2022, 09:39 AM »
Massive progress!

I am just now getting to the end of finishing my basement and I feel your pain!  I am struggling to find space to display all the items I'd like to (and it is a tiny fraction of what you originally had out).


I love the saber collection you have and was wondering where you got those wall mounts.

If you ever decide to part with your helmets, I know someone (me!) interested in that Kylo Ren mask.

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Moving a collection
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2022, 02:44 PM »
The saber mounts I picked up off of Amazon.  They are fairly inexpensive and work great...feel free to check them out here.

I'm no parting with anything...nice try though!   :D

Some recent progress, we are under contract on a place in Florida!  The wife and I flew out this weekend to see it in person....my collection room will be 11.5' x 12' with a decent closet.  I'll have to put up some shelves and my "I love me" wall will be put somewhere else in the house.  I should be able to get all 10 movie posters on one wall, unlike my current office, so that will be nice.  I'm not 100% sure if I'll be able to put the sabers between each of them like I have now.  If not, I'll figure something out for all of them.  I'd like to be excited about it, but moving is going to be such a pain in the ass, I'm just a giant ball of stress right now.  I know it will all work out in the end, but it's tough being right in the middle of it all right now.
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