Re: Where I am, have been, and will be...
I have to admit, I am somewhat of a veteran collector, and have indeed been about a bit these last fifteen years! As my collecting habits evolve, so do the communities I frequent, and the more specialist they become.
Moving my epic collection was by far the most stressful thing I have ever done, and I would not want to wish that on anybody who has a similar sized collection! I was lucky that I was able to utilise self-storage, but others may not have that luxury. It did mean that I handled everything though, as I would not have felt comfortable with strangers manhandling precious boxes of delicate collectibles. I knew exactly what was in every box, and how I could stack them to reduce the chance of casualties
If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone looking to go through a similar situation, it would be to NEVER scrimp on the packaging! It's always better to be safe than sorry, and if it means having twice as many boxes which are well padded, then so be it! A lot of people make the mistake of thinking a box is all they need, but trust me, you will want to protect your valuable collection as best you can! I would also recommend double-wall boxes as well for rigidity
Anything which comes in a Dvd-style case, was tightly packed with padding around the inside of the box. These form a nice firmly packed "brick" which stack great, and you can put a lot of weight on top of them. More fragile games like Dreamcast, PS1, Gameboy, and N64 went in hard plastic under-bed storage "buckets" with lids. These naturally provided a rigid outer to protect from unnecessary bumps, & can stack 6-8 high depending on the weight. Most of my LE's and CE's went in the deeper variety, which were perfect and required minimal bubblewrap between items to prevent them from rubbing each other in transit.
I was physically separated from my collection for at least 6 months, during which time I suffered mild separation anxiety. I have had it back for the last 18 months, but the vast majority of it is still in the boxes I moved in. The only thing I have allowed myself to have on display is my Blu-Ray SteelBook collection. It seems such a shame to keep everything in boxes, but for the time being it's a necessary evil until I can find the time / money to do up my new collection room
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