Keeping Lego Seals intact

[jd5775]

Hi everyone I have a question about preserving Lego seals.

I have a bunch of sealed sets from the early 90's that I plan to keep storing for longer in good condition. When I pulled them out however I noticed that some of the sets have seals that have worn off while some look straight from the factory.

What is the best way to preserve these seals, so they don't come off? I know that a temperature and humidity controlled room would be ideal but I don't have access to that and need a more practical way to store them.

Thanks!

[Artanis I]

Unless you're keeping them in mint condition for your grandchildren's children, get out a knife, cut the seals, open the boxes & bags up and build the sets. That's what Lego is for!

Yeah, okay, I have some sealed boxes too. None are stickers though, they're all punch open. (ie factory sealed with glue)

[Flare]

Honestly, I think you should just break the seals and build them!

[TheWarden]

Has anybody ever shrink-wrapped a set to preserve a set?

If so, you might make friends with certain store employees. I worked at a certain office supply store back in the day, and we had a shrink wrap machine in the back.

If not that route, you can probably do at home with shrink wrap and a hair dryer.

Keeps dust off as well.

[jd5775]

To be honest the biggest reason I don't open sets is because I plan on waiting until I can find a way to prevent degradation/yellowing of the pieces. I love new pieces and I hate to see a brand new set that I really love start wearing away.

If you guys want the sets to be open then buy some from me .

[CP5670]

The UV-based yellowing is fairly easy to avoid. Just keep the sets away from sunlight or fluorescent lighting. I have had sets built up for many years like this without any issues. There is also a second type of yellowing caused by oxygen exposure, but that can happen even if the set is unopened. The part bags back then were perforated and let air in.

I have a ton of old MISB sets from that era too, but have been steadily opening and building them over time. It's easy to keep the bricks in pristine shape if you take a few precautions with the lighting and how you disassemble the bricks.