Cricket memorabilia is wood, cloth, paper and ink, and each of those wants something slightly different.
Bats
Wood moves with humidity. A bat stored in a very dry, air-conditioned room for years can crack; one stored damp can swell and lift the splice.
Keep it somewhere stable, off the floor, out of direct sun, and not leaning against a wall for years in one position. If it is signed, keep padding and anything else off the signature entirely.
Shirts and caps
Folded along existing folds, refolded occasionally, in cotton rather than sealed plastic. Acid-free tissue over any signature and over any print. Out of light.
Paper — programmes, tickets, scorecards
Flat, between acid-free boards, in a box, away from damp. Never laminate, never tape.
Signatures
Ink fades, sunlight does it fastest, and heat lifts it from whatever it is pressed against. A signed item on a sunny wall loses value every month.
What to do, in short
- Out of light, inside wall, off the floor
- Cotton for fabric, boards for paper, stable humidity for wood
- Nothing pressing on a signature, ever
- Silica in the box during the monsoon, not touching the item
What it costs
Tissue, a box and the right corner of a room. UV glazing if you display anything.
Questions people ask
Should I oil a stored bat?
Treat storage and use separately, and say what you did when you sell. Buyers have views.
Can I display a signed shirt?
Yes, out of sun, ideally with UV glazing. Display costs condition; it is a trade worth making consciously.
What about the monsoon?
Check everything at both ends of it. Monsoon and your stock.
More: describing it, what it is worth.