Acid-Free Paper in Stamp Album Pages
Acid-free paper used for stamp album pages. It's something no one in "the good old days" ever concerned themselves with, or even thought about. But most, if not all, commercial stamp album publishers emphasize the necessity of the acid-free paper they use.
Is acid-free paper really needed in stamp albums? Like many things in life, it all depends. It doesn't really matter for most stamp collections unless they're stored in hot, humid locations with very little air circulation. The grandchildren who inherit your stamp collection may notice some darkening on the edges of the pages if you use acid paper, but you'll be long gone before anything bad happens, as long as your collection is properly stored in an appropriate location.
Although damage from acid paper is possible if you store your stamp collection in a hot and humid attic or for long periods of time in a tropical climate without air conditioning, proper storage can usually prevent it. Store your stamp albums vertically (upright), not laying on their side. This allows them to "breathe," with air circulating among the pages. Don't keep your collection anywhere that's hot and humid, or you'll be taking a chance.
Showing posts with label stamp album pages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stamp album pages. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Stamp Albums & Glassine Interleaving
Glassine interleaving is large sheets of glassine material that have been cut to the proper size and then punched to fit into stamp albums. If you use a stamp album that has album pages printed to hold stamps on both sides, front and back, then interleaving is an almost essential stamp collecting tool, needed to protect your stamps. Although albums with two-sided pages are less expensive, they have one major drawback: if your stamp albums aren't stacked properly, opened and closed very carefully, or if the pages aren't turned very carefully, they can significantly contribute to damaging your stamps.
Here's how this can happen. If you stack your stamp albums on top of each other, or if you simply place one on a table laying flat (horizontally) every time you move an album its spine shifts a little bit, causing the pages to slide back and forth against each other. The stamps on those pages naturally slide back and forth too, and when there are stamps on facing pages, they can tangle up, causing perforation damage, creases and even torn stamps just by leafing through the album. It's even possible that some minor amounts of printing ink used on the stamps might rub off onto the facing stamps, potentially discoloring them. Glassine interleaving will prevent both of these problems.
Even if you store your stamp albums vertically - as you always should - stamps on facing pages can easily become tangled and damaged, just by virtue of opening and closing the album or by not being careful enough while turning its pages. Interleaving will help prevent this from happening too.
But many (perhaps most) stamp collectors don't use interleaving in their stamp albums, even if they have double-sided pages. Although interleaving definitely has its positive points, it has a bad side too. First of all, because interleaving involves adding additional pages, a fully-interleaved stamp album will be almost double the thickness and weight of the same album without interleaving. You'll need twice as many binders (which can be expensve), and you'll need twice as much room to store your collection. It also takes a lot of time to dis-assemble a stamp album and insert interleaving between every page. And glassine interleaving, although not terribly costly, is an additional expense. It also darkens with age, and after around 20 years it may well need to be replaced.
Before you decide to interleave or not, consider this information and what type of stamps you collect. If you only collect very inexpensive stamps interleaving probably isn't worth the bother or expense. But if you collect more expensive stamps, you may just want to consider either interleaving your double-sided stamp album or, alternatively, migrating your stamp collection to single-sided album pages, which don't need interleaving and just may, in the long run, be cheaper.
Glassine interleaving is large sheets of glassine material that have been cut to the proper size and then punched to fit into stamp albums. If you use a stamp album that has album pages printed to hold stamps on both sides, front and back, then interleaving is an almost essential stamp collecting tool, needed to protect your stamps. Although albums with two-sided pages are less expensive, they have one major drawback: if your stamp albums aren't stacked properly, opened and closed very carefully, or if the pages aren't turned very carefully, they can significantly contribute to damaging your stamps.
Here's how this can happen. If you stack your stamp albums on top of each other, or if you simply place one on a table laying flat (horizontally) every time you move an album its spine shifts a little bit, causing the pages to slide back and forth against each other. The stamps on those pages naturally slide back and forth too, and when there are stamps on facing pages, they can tangle up, causing perforation damage, creases and even torn stamps just by leafing through the album. It's even possible that some minor amounts of printing ink used on the stamps might rub off onto the facing stamps, potentially discoloring them. Glassine interleaving will prevent both of these problems.
Even if you store your stamp albums vertically - as you always should - stamps on facing pages can easily become tangled and damaged, just by virtue of opening and closing the album or by not being careful enough while turning its pages. Interleaving will help prevent this from happening too.
But many (perhaps most) stamp collectors don't use interleaving in their stamp albums, even if they have double-sided pages. Although interleaving definitely has its positive points, it has a bad side too. First of all, because interleaving involves adding additional pages, a fully-interleaved stamp album will be almost double the thickness and weight of the same album without interleaving. You'll need twice as many binders (which can be expensve), and you'll need twice as much room to store your collection. It also takes a lot of time to dis-assemble a stamp album and insert interleaving between every page. And glassine interleaving, although not terribly costly, is an additional expense. It also darkens with age, and after around 20 years it may well need to be replaced.
Before you decide to interleave or not, consider this information and what type of stamps you collect. If you only collect very inexpensive stamps interleaving probably isn't worth the bother or expense. But if you collect more expensive stamps, you may just want to consider either interleaving your double-sided stamp album or, alternatively, migrating your stamp collection to single-sided album pages, which don't need interleaving and just may, in the long run, be cheaper.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Stamp Hinges vs. Stamp Mounts Revisited
A few months ago we did a four-part post that discussed the relative merits - and disadvantages - of using stamp hinges and stamp mounts in stamp collections.
Well, we recently came across a great idea (although a bit more expensive than using mounts or hinges) so we thought we'd pass it along.
One of the disadvantages of stamp mounts that we discussed was that it is sometimes difficult to remove a mount from a stamp album page without damaging the page itself.
In short, the idea is this: place your stamps inside stamp mounts. Then, instead of licking the back of the mount and adhering it to the album page directly, use one or more stamp hinges to do that. In other words, hinge the mount to the album page.
Using the stamp mount protects the gum of the stamp, and using the stamp hinge to attach the mount to the page protects your album pages - the best of both worlds!
The only downside that we see for those who use stamp mounts already is a slightly increased cost - but it's negligible because stamp hinges are so inexpensive.
This great idea was published in the December 3, 2007 edition of Linn's Stamp News, contributed by a reader in the "Reader's Opinions" section. Thanks, reader!
A few months ago we did a four-part post that discussed the relative merits - and disadvantages - of using stamp hinges and stamp mounts in stamp collections.
Well, we recently came across a great idea (although a bit more expensive than using mounts or hinges) so we thought we'd pass it along.
One of the disadvantages of stamp mounts that we discussed was that it is sometimes difficult to remove a mount from a stamp album page without damaging the page itself.
In short, the idea is this: place your stamps inside stamp mounts. Then, instead of licking the back of the mount and adhering it to the album page directly, use one or more stamp hinges to do that. In other words, hinge the mount to the album page.
Using the stamp mount protects the gum of the stamp, and using the stamp hinge to attach the mount to the page protects your album pages - the best of both worlds!
The only downside that we see for those who use stamp mounts already is a slightly increased cost - but it's negligible because stamp hinges are so inexpensive.
This great idea was published in the December 3, 2007 edition of Linn's Stamp News, contributed by a reader in the "Reader's Opinions" section. Thanks, reader!
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