Guest post series - 'Filohax' No. 25 - Paul

Thanks very much again to Paul for this next instalment of his wonderful guest post series.
You can find all of the 'Filohax' posts here.       

Don't take Filofax damage lying down...

I keep seeing wonderful collections of binders on shelves, and there is no doubt it's a great way to display our binders - however, if protecting them from damage is your priority then it might not be the best way to preserve them.
I learned this from bitter experience recently when I bought a wonderful vintage Winchester Ostrich Filofax. I could tell from the seller's photos that this binder had 'been around the block' a few times with particular damage to the leather on the bottom of the spine. I bought it for three reasons - 1) I much prefer binders showing some wear 2) This usually makes them cheaper to buy! and 3) The Ostrich skin was one of my 'Unicorn' Filofax.

I took delivery and immediately realised what had caused the damage to the spine - when binders are stood up on their spine the bottom rim of the leather's edge is taking the whole weight of the binder, and over time the leather starts to distort and fold in on itself. 

 

When the distorted leather starts to make contact with the metal opening mechanism there's only ever going to be one loser- the leather. Then there's the damage from dragging binders that are stood up off and on a shelf - another vintage Filofax of mine, the big vintage Balmoral, suffered from this - when I took delivery I could tell straight away that the previous owner had kept it stood up on their desk, constantly dragging it towards them then pushing it back, with all of the weight creating undue friction on the bottom edge of the leather.
Once I realised this I started storing my collection - laying flat on their back, in a box, with no more than one other binder layed on top. 

Does anyone know of a better storage method for easy retrieval?