Removing Collectible Ads from Magazines

Whether you collect vintage ads or sell them, you have to cut them from the old magazine. When doing so there are steps that you should follow.

Tools:

Paper cutter, available at craft stores, with sharp blade.

Pencil with eraser removed from end.

First, decide if you want to remove the ad from the magazine. Some people will object to removal because it does destroy the magazine itself. The reality is that the ads sell for more after they have been removed, so people with a profit motive will be removing the ads, no matter how objectionable preservationists find it. Also, ad buyers tend to want the ad removed for them.

Handle the paper with care. Most ads in old magazines are fragile. The magazine itself is old, so the cheap paper that they are printed on can tear easily, and it is often very, very thin. Old magazines are often stored in less than ideal conditions, for example, up in an attic where it is hot and dry, or down in a basement where it is damp. Both environments can make the paper tear or wrinkle more easily, so handle the paper like it is an old artifact, and, in fact, it is. It is a treasure.

Open the magazine and select the ad that you want to remove. The process will differ, depending on its size and how close the ad is to the fold.

If the ad is to the outside edge of the page, you can probably slip the base of the paper cutter under it, fold down the cutter housing, and slice downward, making a nice clean cut.

Things are more complicated if it is a full page ad. Unless you actually take the magazine apart, you will lose part of the ad because the cutter mechanism can only get so close to the gutter, the place where the page comes out of the spine. I prefer to take the magazine apart first.

Some magazines have staples in the spine. Remove them with care. You can use the pencil with the eraser removed to do this by putting the empty eraser holder, the metal part, under the staple and gently bending it at both ends so that it can be removed without tearing the paper.

If the spine is glued, you can open the magazine flat on a table and press the spine flat. The pages come out pretty easily once the spine is broken.

It is best to use a paper cutter that you have bought at the craft store because they have a guide that creates perfectly straight cuts, something you will never accomplish with a scissors. Make sure that you replace the blade at the first sign of dullness or it will jam and then just tear a ragged edge.

I recommend practicing on a magazine that you don't value first. Make your mistakes there, and only try to cut out a desirable ad when you are confident that you have mastered the process.