STORAGE
Stamps and covers are perishable commodities whose greatest enemy is water, in liquid or in vapor form. More stamps have been ruined by moisture than by any other cause. To preserve the value of your philatelic material, you must take precautions to keep it safe and dry.
Never store your albums, stockbooks, cartons, etc. in the attic
or the basement. Attics can get extremely hot in the summer; basements
can be very humid and are subject to flooding.
If your collection is mounted, keep the books in an upright position.
Otherwise the weight of the book or books will compress some of
the stamps against their pages and will make sticking easier.
Stuck stamps are very difficult to remove from the page without
damage to the gum.
Covers (stamps on envelopes) or postal cards can be stored upright
in convenient sized boxes in a dry place. The box should be provided
with a lid to keep out dust. There are many kinds of clear plastic
storage boxes, which can be used without harm to the material.
There has been much concern the last few years about the acidic
content of paper and other materials such as PVC (vinyl). Over
a long period of time, some of the acidic material may leach out
and cause the stamp or cover to discolor or become brittle. We've
all seen how a white newspaper page will become yellowed after
a few days' exposure to the sun. If your material is to be permanently
mounted, it would be a good idea to find out if the pages or mounts
are acid-free.
MOUNTING
For many years, the commonest form of mounting stamps was by using
stamp hinges, pieces of gummed glassine material which were moistened
and folded, with the small part attached to the stamp and the
larger part to the page. Invariably, when a gummed stamp is hinged,
a mark is left on the gum when the hinge is removed. In recent
years, the trend among many collectors is to want never- hinged
stamps, which command a price from a 50% to several hundred percent
premium over that of the hinged stamps.
Manufacturers of stamp supplies have developed products to aid
in the mounting of stamps while keeping the gum intact. Stamp
mounts, which consist of plastic sheaths of various widths, gummed
on the back, are readily available. The stamp is measured to select
the proper width of mount, and the mount is cut to the proper
length. The stamp is easily placed in the mount, the back moistened,
and the mount affixed to the page. Disadvantages of the mount
system are the need to have a large number of widths on hand,
and the cost of 2.5 to 5 cents per stamp for the material.
Hingeless albums are also available. These have the mounts already
attached to the album pages, so that you need only to insert the
stamp in the mount. These have the advantage of convenience, but
are not cheap, with a cost of $150-300 for even a middle-sized
country.
The method of mounting is a question of economics. If you collect
used stamps, if your material has already been hinged, or if it
is predominantly inexpensive material, special mounts would not
repay their cost. But if you buy expensive never-hinged material,
or if you have high-value used material, the added protection
of the mounts will help protect the value of your stamps when
it comes time to dispose of them.
No type of tape, rubber cement, or any other adhesive should be
used to mount the stamp. Likewise, the gum on the stamp should
not be moistened to stick the stamp to its page.
For covers, there are albums with plastic pockets of a fixed size,
which are useful for U.S. First Days, which are pretty well standardized
in size.
Cover mounts, similar to stamp mounts, are available, but expensive.
A less expensive method is to use philatelic mounting corners,
which hold the cover in place on a page. For added protection,
a plastic page protector can be used over the page. Do not use
so-called magnetic photo albums, as they have adhesive on their
pages. The pages will discolor badly after several years, and
the covers may stick to the page, resulting in damage when they
are removed.
Most beginning collectors aren't too sure of what they want to
collect, and often a well-meaning parent will purchase a gigantic
album about five inches thick, covering all the countries of the
world. The scattering of stamps which the beginner acquires are
lost in the immensity of the album, and the impossibility of filling
more than a few pages soon becomes apparent. Interest is lost,
and the investment is wasted.
A more modest beginning album is recommended. When that is outgrown,
perhaps you will have a better idea of your collecting interest.
If you decide to specialize in a certain country or group of countries,
specialty albums can be bought at a moderate price.
Many collectors find that printed albums are not the answer, as
they might want to mount different shades, plate variations, or
multiples of the same stamp, or they might have two copies, both
of which they want to keep. In those cases, blank pages are available.
Some have fancy borders and most have a faint squared design printed
on the paper to help in locating where you want to mount the stamps.
Blank pages are available for three-hole binders, or for various
types of matched philatelic binders.
If you are accumulating material, but haven't definitely decided
what to collect, consider temporary storage on manila stock cards.
These are punched for a three-ring binder, have as many as twelve
pockets, and can hold from 100-250 stamps. Cost is about 35 cents
each, and they may be obtained from almost any stamp dealer. -
Dan Anderson.