Memorabilia
Memorabilia with a fabric component
Memorabilia with a fabric component – signed or unsigned – vintage or modern – comes in all shapes and sizes. The range is extensive and includes:
- Sports – jackets, jerseys, pants, robes, trunks, flags, pennants, duffle bags, etc.
- Military – army, navy and air force uniforms, civilian auxiliary uniforms, etc.
Please note:
We do not clean and/or restore peaked caps (aka wheel caps or saucer caps).
We will not accept any World War II military or other memorabilia associated with any of the Axis Alliance nations for cleaning and/or restoration.
- Household – hand-made quilts, needlepoint, samplers, cushion covers and table cloths, etc.
- Celebrity – garments previously owned or worn by celebrities from all walks of life.
- Theatrical – costumes for opera, ballet, musicals, etc.
- Concert – tour jackets, t-shirts, etc.
- Political – flags, sashes, ribbons, pennants, etc.
At RAVE FabriCARE, we understand the delicate nature of vintage and modern memorabilia constructed of fabric. We respect their value to you and their potential value on the resale market. We’ll do our very best to safeguard them.
Cleaning these items is a skillful process that involves great thought and care at every stage of the cleaning and finishing process.
The guiding principle should always be “Do No Harm”.
At RAVE FabriCARE, our strength is our personalized advisory service. When you bring in or send in a piece of memorabilia to us, a knowledgeable Fabricare Consultant will:
- Examine the piece carefully.
- Identify the challenges presented by the piece.
- Discuss the areas of risk.
- Explain our recommended restoration and/or cleaning process.
- Identify the results that we believe you can and cannot expect from our work.
Specifically, we’ll discuss any problems of construction and conditions of use and storage that may limit the extent to which such pieces can be safely cleaned and/or restored and can still yield satisfactory results.
For more information about cleaning and/or restoring your memorabilia, please click here.
In addition to restoring your pieces of memorabilia, you might want to consider packaging those pieces in archival materials specifically designed to protect your textiles during long term storage. The special board used to construct our custom-sized archival chests (we offer 8 different sizes) is the very same board used by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. to construct the textile boxes they use to store tens of thousands of textiles not currently on display at the Smithsonian.
For more information about preserving your memorabilia, please click here.
Pricing
Every piece of memorabilia presents a unique combination of age, fabric, inks and dyes, trims and embellishments, construction, soil, staining and odor, insect damage, creasing or other fabric distortion, improper storage conditions, etc.
As such, we need to examine each piece in order to provide an estimated cleaning and/or restoration cost.
Please bear in mind that the cleaning and/or restoration of a memorabilia piece is relatively expensive.
Examples
To give you a sense of costs, consider these examples:
Sports uniforms — boxing robe
We cleaned and restored a boxing robe, signed by Muhammad Ali, to as close to original as possible while simultaneously protecting the signature from further fading.
The robe arrived with a certificate from Field of Dreams guaranteeing the authenticity of the signature.
The robe had yellowed in numerous places, the black satin trim had faded/changed color in numerous places and the fabric coating on the reverse side of the black satin had discolored the white fabric and thread in numerous places. The robe was covered in numerous places with double-sided, Scotch tape and adhesive residue from that tape (in those places where the Scotch tape had already been removed). And the fabric was sharply creased in numerous places.
We restored the robe to near original condition at a cost of $300.
To view this slide show on a full screen, hit the X button with the arrow tips.
Sports uniforms — MLB jackets
We cleaned and restored three 25+ year old baseball jackets (Yankees, Dodgers and Giants) belonging to a former Major League Baseball pitcher whose career spanned the years 1978 to 1988.
The jackets had been stored in two duffle bags. Unfortunately, rats had burrowed into those duffle bags, and, as a result, the jackets became stained with rat urine and feces.
We restored those jackets to near original condition at a cost of $150 each.
To view this slide show on a full screen, hit the X button with the arrow tips.
Military uniforms — World War II (Navy)
We cleaned and restored a white summer uniform belonging to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz – the same uniform he wore on the U.S.S. Missouri when he accepted the surrender of the Japanese in 1945.
Because of the historical significance of this uniform and because the uniform was in a public collection, we did not charge for our services.
Had this uniform been sent to us by a private collector, we probably would have charged $250 to $350 for our services.
To view this slide show on a full screen, hit the X button with the arrow tips.
Theatrical costumes
We cleaned, restored and preserved two costumes (with provenance) sent in by a collector of Phantom Of The Opera memorabilia. Both dresses had been stored in a California warehouse for over a decade and were in relatively poor condition (tears and heavy soiling).
We charged $500 for the “Think of Me” dress worn by Emmy Rossum (the first Broadway run) and $500 for Carlotta’s “Il Muto” dress worn by Minnie Driver (the 2004 movie).
Turnaround
Our typical turnaround time is about 4 to 6 weeks.
There are numerous factors that could affect the actual turnaround time, such as condition, construction and necessary repairs prior to cleaning and/or restoration.
Contact us
If you live outside of the metro Phoenix area and are considering the cleaning and/or restoration of a piece of memorabilia, you might want to request a preliminary evaluation and estimate from us.
To provide us with more details about your piece and to upload some photographs (helps us assess the overall condition of the piece and develop a preliminary estimate), please click here.