Glassine Envelopes (or just "Glassines")
Glassine envelopes are an invaluable, indispensable tool for stamp collectors. Glassine is a thin, lightweight, semi-transparent or translucent paper-type material which is fairly resistant to moisture. It's used in stamp hinges and in glassine envelopes, and unlike regular paper, it contains no chemicals that would harm stamps.
Glassine envelopes are inexpensive, widely available from stamp suppliers and come in a wide variety of sizes. Sizes range from small enough to only hold a few stamps all the way up to large enough to hold booklets, covers and many souvenir sheets. Books made of glassine leaves are also available to store full sheets of stamps. Because glassine is semi-transparent, you can see what's inside without needing to take your stamps out of their glassines.
Along with stock pages or stock books (some of which incorporate glassine pockets and/or interleaving into their design), glassine envelopes are a great way to store stamps until they're mounted onto the pages of your stamp albums, although it's not recommended to leave them in glassines for, say, 50 years.
Showing posts with label glassine envelopes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glassine envelopes. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Stamp Collection Organization - Do's and Don'ts
The manner in which you organize the stamps in your collection is entirely up to you, but here are some things the typical stamp collector should do ... and not do.
DO:
Keep your stamps in a safe and secure location. They may be in a stamp album or on stock pages, but keep them away from large swings in temperature or humidity. A house that's maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled way (heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer) should be adequate to protect most stamps from these dangers.
DON'T:
Store your stamps in a place where they are easily damaged. This means don't just toss loose stamps (or even gently place them) into a box. After all, stamps are small pieces of paper, and as such, they are very fragile. They bend (crease) and tear very easily. Even stamps that are still affixed to the paper they were mailed on are somewhat fragile, with corners or perforations being fairly easily damaged. Also, don't store stamps in glassine envelopes for very long - move them into your stamp album as soon as you can. Glassines are not acid-free and are not intended for long-term stamp storage - leaving stamps inside them for too long can cause damage.
More stamp collecting "do's and don'ts are coming!
The manner in which you organize the stamps in your collection is entirely up to you, but here are some things the typical stamp collector should do ... and not do.
DO:
Keep your stamps in a safe and secure location. They may be in a stamp album or on stock pages, but keep them away from large swings in temperature or humidity. A house that's maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled way (heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer) should be adequate to protect most stamps from these dangers.
DON'T:
Store your stamps in a place where they are easily damaged. This means don't just toss loose stamps (or even gently place them) into a box. After all, stamps are small pieces of paper, and as such, they are very fragile. They bend (crease) and tear very easily. Even stamps that are still affixed to the paper they were mailed on are somewhat fragile, with corners or perforations being fairly easily damaged. Also, don't store stamps in glassine envelopes for very long - move them into your stamp album as soon as you can. Glassines are not acid-free and are not intended for long-term stamp storage - leaving stamps inside them for too long can cause damage.
More stamp collecting "do's and don'ts are coming!
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