Stamp Collecting and Hurricanes ~ Tips for Stamp Collectors in Their Paths

None of us wants to be hit by a tropical storm, or even worse, a hurricane. Right now Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 hurricane, possibly to become a Category 5. And Tropical Storm Hanna may be headed toward the Florida, Georgia or South Carolina coastline.

Your first priority when faced with a nasty storm such as these is to save yourself, your family and any pets. Get out early, if you need to or are told to. Your second priority is probably to stock up food and water, secure your house as best as you can, and gather together all of your very important papers in case you need to quickly evacuate.

What does all of this have to do with stamp collecting?

The answer depends on how important your stamp collection is to you. If it's valuable dollar-wise, you need to protect and preserve it as best as you can. The same is true if it's valuable for sentimental reasons and you'd hate to lose it.

Remember that along with very high winds, these kinds of storms bring incredible amounts of rain and flooding. Water is a huge enemy of stamps, so you need to do what you can to protect them from it. Even if you don't experience any actual flooding, the humidity level will be very high during a storm, especially if your power goes out and you lose your air conditioning. But flooding or rain leaking in through windows or doors would be even worse.

Gather up your stamp albums, shoeboxes, stock books, stock pages, glassines and loose stamps. Wrap them up tightly in plastic garbage bags (without any holes in them) and seal them as tightly as you can. Or you can use ziplock bags if they're big enough. Use as many plastic bags as you need to include all your important material. Then find a high and dry location in an interior room of your house - maybe on top of a chest of drawers or on a high closet shelf - and put all your stamp material there.

This will help protect your stamps from humidity and/or flooding. And it also puts them all in one place, so that if you need to evacuate quickly you can grab them along with your important papers, and then go.

You've spent a lot of time - and money - building your stamp collection. Don't let a tropical storm or hurricane destroy it overnight.