Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Collection #1 - This was a small collection in a three-ring binder. The stamps were a mix of USA and some worldwide. The stamps were stored in expensive, vinyl stock pages. The problem? All the stamps had been pulled off the envelopes, so all were damaged.
Collection #2 - This was a small collection of unused USA in a three-ring binder. All the stamps were in mounts and were on blank pages. The problem? The collector only used Showgard pre-cut size #24 for USA definitives. If the stamps did not fit, he cut the stamps so that they would fit in the mounts. Many of the stamps can still be used for postage, so not a total loss.
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#25 is standard for common US definitives.
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In a lot I bought I found a whole batch of US plate blocks where the previous owner had printed the Scott number in the selvage in pen... postage!
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who said that ignorance was a blessing?
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I was given once a box containing a collection of mostly late 1800s early 1900s worldwide stamps. But the stamps were stored in porous plain paper envelopes, in a basement in one of our northern neighboring states famous for wet damp and cold winter weather, and for hot damp and wet summers.
Stored on the floor, no less than just next to the heating / ac unit!
Results: no gum unstuck, all stamps brittle as glass and to top it all, many had been ripped off envelopes and were already a total loss. But some of the others......
I cried! 
rrr...
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Please Michael. I beg you to tell me these are "alternative facts". But I know they are certifiable and experienced by all of us.
I'm with ggrraphy, I feel like crying too sometimes. Especially when I come across stamps in "The Hoard" that have a fairly high CV, which seem to be the ones most shockingly treated.
Dave.
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I once saw a box of first day covers, all good Artcraft type envelopes, where a previous idiot decided to line the inside of the box with newspaper. Every friggin cover looked like it was dipped in coffee. All ruined.
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Michael, That is a sad story, I'm glad it was not me inspecting it. Those times can be uncomfortable. The clueless collector/inheritor thinking they really have something only to learn they're not even close and his common sense has once again been questioned.
When I use to go out chasing collections you often times have no idea what you are going to run into. More times than not the people with the stamps had no idea what they had but they were probably quite valuable. Collectors however knew pretty much what they had but their sense of value might be a tad skewed. It's real nice to run into a nice collection from a knowledgeable collector but more times than not you probably wished you had stayed home.
A lot of collectors seem to be stamp garbage men or women with bad philatelic practices.
I always want to look but often times wished I hadn't. It can get downright embarrasing.
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The worst thing you can say is "This is only a common stamp - how I treat it doesn't matter".
If you treat EVERY stamp like it was a Penny Black (insert here your own favoured classic) you can't go wrong. Even my commonest stamps ( and I have a lot of them ) are soaked properly,housed correctly ( OK it's not archival paper,but it is more or less acid free!), and the albums are stored upright on closed shelves in an average humidity room.Like selling houses presentation is everything. I want to be proud of my collection, and frankly while a lot of my stamps are housed on leaves which cost more than the stamps, they deserve it.
The knowledge of how to treat stamps correctly didn't start with the internet - it has always been there. You wouldn't buy a car without doing some basic research so why you would you do this with stamps ?
I have to say that to collect anything you have to have a tidy mind (particularly stamps).The horror stories above don't show a lack of understanding of stamps they show a lack of common sense. Some mistakes we make ( and I have made a few ) are through ignorance, and hopefully experience makes us improve. Some people should just not be allowed out !
Malcolm
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In my years of buying collections, and in my role as an Estate Advisor with the American Philatelic Society, I have had the opportunity to view a large number of collections.
I don't buy many collections any more, and thankfully, I don't get the call too often to view a collection for an estate. Most of the collections from deceased APS members are nicely kept. However, the collections from most other collectors that I have viewed either personally or through auction lots are horrendous.
Those collectors tend to take short cuts whenever they can with their collections, especially when they ran out of stamp hinges, mounts, album pages, etc.. I used to keep a running post at StampWants to relay my findings whenever I saw a new way that a collector wrongly used to house/store a collection.
Here are some other methods of keeping a stamp collection that I have found that I can remember off the top of my head. Note that none of these methods are proper ways to store stamps, and will cause permanent damage to the stamps.
- Larger stamps, sheets and postal stationary stored in post card albums that have slats to insert the post cards. The slats cause bending and creasing.
- Stamps stored on photo album pages that are self-adhesive. The adhesive leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps attached to album pages with cellophane tape. The adhesive leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps stored in plastic coin holder sheets. The oil coating in the plastic leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps stored on standard paper. The acid in the paper leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps attached to album pages with white glue.
- Stamps attached to album pages with rubber cement.
- Unused stamps attached to album pages by wetting the stamp gum.
- Stamps attached to album pages using stamp selvedge.
- Stamps attached to album pages using medical tape.
- Stamps attached to album pages using used stamp hinges. There is not enough gum on a used hinge to safely hold stamps.
- Stamps attached to album page using from 1/2 to 1/4 of a stamp hinge that was cut to the smaller size by the collector. Such hinges are often too weak to properly hold a stamp.
- Stamps mounted to album pages using clear tube-type (AKA Crystal Mounts). These mounts attract and hold humidity that gets onto stamps and damages gum and paper.
- Stamp pages separated with plastic wrap. The oils in the wrap will leach onto the stamps, and the plastic wrap will hold moisture.
- Stamps attached to album pages with mounts that are too small for the stamp. This causes perf damage,and also creases the stamps.
- Stamps attached to pages with staples.
- Stamps written on the back to identify them, often with ink, or a rubber ID stamp.
- Stamps pulled off backing material rather than soaking or simply cutting away the surrounding backing material, but not cutting so close as to also cut the stamp - another common sight).
- Similar stamps stacked on top of each other in an album space, especially when hinged or taped together.
- Collections full of mostly damaged (filler) stamps.
That's what I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there are more that escape me for the moment. The kicker to all this, of course, is that the collector got very insolent when told that his million dollar collection (in his eyes) was absolutely worthless.
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I've encountered most of problems that other people have mentioned. I once had a guy get quite angry with because I had to tell him that his album of mint Canadian stamps was worth little more than postage. The majority of stamps were not just hinged, but a bit more spit had been applied than was strictly necessary, with the result many of the stamps were firmly stuck to their page by their own adhesive.
The most "memorable" was a gift for my school's stamp club, from the school's secretary. She lived near the school, and I went home with her to pick up the stamps. The kitchen table was "interesting": A large white angora cat was sitting on the table, happily chewing away on a beef roast that had been left on the table. She shoed the cat away without a comment, and left to retrieve the box of stamps. I glanced briefly at it, thought "Oh my....," and left. That evening I took a closer look. The box was filled with roughly equal parts of loose, off-paper stamps and Angora cat hair. Cat hair and perf teeth have an affinity that I wasn't previously aware of! One ordinary Angora cat hair can become entangled in roughly 34 perf teeth of an ordinary definitive stamp. Seriously! Well, that's how I remember it.... How many rare and valuable stamps did I find? Yeah, right. Next question?
Sometimes it works out well. My stamp club got a donation consisting of hundreds of short sets of common approvals. The owner insisted they were worthless. We didn't think so, but he insisted that we take them off his hands. We did, and sold them in a local commercial auction for more than CAN $1,500.
boB
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As a manager of a stamp shop.... I've seen all of these, and more.
Yikes!
David
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"The worst thing you can say is "This is only a common stamp - how I treat it doesn't matter". "
I now glue my collection to household objects!
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.
A good way to use stamps. It promotes the hobby.
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About 20-25 years ago I bought an estate collection with an extensive older European section. I came across France #1- it was labeled as such in pencil beneath the stamp and was affixed in the first position on the first page. Only I could not see any of the stamp. This definitive stamp was encased in 4 photo corners in such a way that none but the very center of the stamp (maybe 1/16th of inch) was visible. A valuable stamp seemingly ruined. The best solution would be to cut the stamp out of the album page and soak the whole mess and hope for the best. However, the album itself was an antique and I didn't want to ruin the entire album by having a cut-out on a page. And this was the only stamp in the entire album mounted in this fashion. In the end I sacrificed the album and soaked the stamp- and lost it. The stamp would never separate from any of the photo corners.
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"France #1... the album itself was an antique... In the end I sacrificed the album and soaked the stamp- and lost it."
Ouch! Have had similar experiences, but not yet with a France #1 level of value.
-Steve
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Michael, You forgot to mention what is possibly the most common error in mounting stamps.
It starts out by using the nefarious "Crystal Mount". The collector finally gets tired of the stamps falling out of the mount and then proceeds to use Scotch tape to seal the ends of the mount to prevent the problem from occuring. This brilliant idea almost always ruins the stamp from staining of the tape. I have seen this so many times that I have to believe that someone, somewhere advocated such use that found the ear of many a collector.
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I did mention Crystal Mounts, but you are 100% correct. I have seen plenty of stamps taped into a Crystal Mount.
Those old Marlate Mounts are horrible too. You can't get them opened easily at all, and often the stamp is ruined when doing so. Also, I have seen people tend to place the stamp on the black paper backing rather on the clear plastic in front of it. The black paper is acidic. No need to say any more about that. I'm sure everyone gets the image of how those stamps looked.
For that reason, and all those listed by others and me above (and I'm sure to follow), I stopped buying collections that are in glassines, stock books with large duplicate quantities of used stamps, Harris-style albums, intermediate collector albums, and even International and Specialty-type collections that are not in Showgard-type mounts. Even then I look at a random selection of stamps in those albums to see the condition. Many damaged stamps (check the gum side) are in albums that look like wonderful MNH collections, and the collections are passed off as such as well.
I understand that there will almost always be damaged or otherwise inferior stamps in a collection. I see it all the time. However, this should be a small percentage of the collection, or else I pass on it.
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How about a 3" thick "cake" of unused U.S. sheets, ranging from the 1930's-1970's. They were laminated solid, back to front, top to bottom. It took me an entire weekend to soak them free and the better part of a week drying and flattening them. Good for postage,(almost $800 FV) but a shame otherwise.
WB
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WB, That is a very common sight with sheets and plate blocks. People buy them thinking a good investment. They study them for amount of time and put them with the rest until retirement time. The P.O. encouraged this type of "investment" and it's sad to see how many people believed them.
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Yeah, I'm thinking since there was no musty smell, foxing or any other damage, it was a case of simple humidity that led to their demise. They basically laid in a stack, one on top of the other, possibly under some amount of weight, until moisture in the air fused them together. I can't think of any other scenario that would account for it.
WB
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Has anyone used these for postcards or postal stationary? It says acid and lignin free, archival safe.
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I have seen a new collection storing method. A collector attached MNH stamps to glassine interleaving sheets. Normally these glassine sheets are used to separate pages to help protect stamps that are hinged to facing pages.
The collector found that the MNH stamps can be peeled off relatively easily if needed, and the stamps will still be MNH. Unfortunately, many stamps will tear or thin during the removal process. I'm sure that this collector would still consider such stamps to be MNH.
Oh, and there were a few used stamps attached to the glassine sheets as well. They were glued on.
Glassine sheets are cheaper than album pages, but what actually was saved?
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06:06:14pm
"seanpashby said:
Has anyone used these for postcards or postal stationary? It says acid and lignin free, archival safe."
Photo corners are bad news over the long haul. They are too thick. I have bought many collections of postal stationery where the photo corners used have left "dented" impressions in the corners of the cards -- very undesirable.
These are the only style of corners that should be used to mount covers and cards:
Available under many well known philatelic brand names. (Lighthouse, G&K etc )
Roy
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Thank you Roy.
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Prinz also makes a version of those, but they can be difficult to remove from the roll.
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Best intentions...
Horror story from last week about historical document preservation gone wrong.
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/21/515410087/an-attempt-to-save-south-carolinas-historical-documents-is-destroying-them
(Note: there are some philatelic libraries which have the same issue.)
Don
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That's terrible. One would have thought this process would have been tested before it was accepted as a good preservation method. This is something we should remember and avoid about our own personal important papers, documents, probably photographs and such.
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When an auction lot includes zero-collector-value items in poor condition, I laminate & use them as grandchild bait.
I've done this mostly with banknotes, but would not hesitate to do it with covers et al.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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Roy:
Excellent point on the photo corners! I use the Lighthouse brand (both 19 mm and 32 mm sizes) and they work well.
David in Ottawa, Canada.
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05:31:37pm
I recently had the chance to look at two stamp collections. Of course the owners were proud of what they had, and how the stamps were stored and presented in the albums.
Collection #1 - This was a small collection in a three-ring binder. The stamps were a mix of USA and some worldwide. The stamps were stored in expensive, vinyl stock pages. The problem? All the stamps had been pulled off the envelopes, so all were damaged.
Collection #2 - This was a small collection of unused USA in a three-ring binder. All the stamps were in mounts and were on blank pages. The problem? The collector only used Showgard pre-cut size #24 for USA definitives. If the stamps did not fit, he cut the stamps so that they would fit in the mounts. Many of the stamps can still be used for postage, so not a total loss.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
#25 is standard for common US definitives.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a lot I bought I found a whole batch of US plate blocks where the previous owner had printed the Scott number in the selvage in pen... postage!
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
who said that ignorance was a blessing?
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Approvals
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was given once a box containing a collection of mostly late 1800s early 1900s worldwide stamps. But the stamps were stored in porous plain paper envelopes, in a basement in one of our northern neighboring states famous for wet damp and cold winter weather, and for hot damp and wet summers.
Stored on the floor, no less than just next to the heating / ac unit!
Results: no gum unstuck, all stamps brittle as glass and to top it all, many had been ripped off envelopes and were already a total loss. But some of the others......
I cried!
rrr...
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please Michael. I beg you to tell me these are "alternative facts". But I know they are certifiable and experienced by all of us.
I'm with ggrraphy, I feel like crying too sometimes. Especially when I come across stamps in "The Hoard" that have a fairly high CV, which seem to be the ones most shockingly treated.
Dave.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I once saw a box of first day covers, all good Artcraft type envelopes, where a previous idiot decided to line the inside of the box with newspaper. Every friggin cover looked like it was dipped in coffee. All ruined.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michael, That is a sad story, I'm glad it was not me inspecting it. Those times can be uncomfortable. The clueless collector/inheritor thinking they really have something only to learn they're not even close and his common sense has once again been questioned.
When I use to go out chasing collections you often times have no idea what you are going to run into. More times than not the people with the stamps had no idea what they had but they were probably quite valuable. Collectors however knew pretty much what they had but their sense of value might be a tad skewed. It's real nice to run into a nice collection from a knowledgeable collector but more times than not you probably wished you had stayed home.
A lot of collectors seem to be stamp garbage men or women with bad philatelic practices.
I always want to look but often times wished I hadn't. It can get downright embarrasing.
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05:11:32pm
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
The worst thing you can say is "This is only a common stamp - how I treat it doesn't matter".
If you treat EVERY stamp like it was a Penny Black (insert here your own favoured classic) you can't go wrong. Even my commonest stamps ( and I have a lot of them ) are soaked properly,housed correctly ( OK it's not archival paper,but it is more or less acid free!), and the albums are stored upright on closed shelves in an average humidity room.Like selling houses presentation is everything. I want to be proud of my collection, and frankly while a lot of my stamps are housed on leaves which cost more than the stamps, they deserve it.
The knowledge of how to treat stamps correctly didn't start with the internet - it has always been there. You wouldn't buy a car without doing some basic research so why you would you do this with stamps ?
I have to say that to collect anything you have to have a tidy mind (particularly stamps).The horror stories above don't show a lack of understanding of stamps they show a lack of common sense. Some mistakes we make ( and I have made a few ) are through ignorance, and hopefully experience makes us improve. Some people should just not be allowed out !
Malcolm
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06:20:59pm
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my years of buying collections, and in my role as an Estate Advisor with the American Philatelic Society, I have had the opportunity to view a large number of collections.
I don't buy many collections any more, and thankfully, I don't get the call too often to view a collection for an estate. Most of the collections from deceased APS members are nicely kept. However, the collections from most other collectors that I have viewed either personally or through auction lots are horrendous.
Those collectors tend to take short cuts whenever they can with their collections, especially when they ran out of stamp hinges, mounts, album pages, etc.. I used to keep a running post at StampWants to relay my findings whenever I saw a new way that a collector wrongly used to house/store a collection.
Here are some other methods of keeping a stamp collection that I have found that I can remember off the top of my head. Note that none of these methods are proper ways to store stamps, and will cause permanent damage to the stamps.
- Larger stamps, sheets and postal stationary stored in post card albums that have slats to insert the post cards. The slats cause bending and creasing.
- Stamps stored on photo album pages that are self-adhesive. The adhesive leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps attached to album pages with cellophane tape. The adhesive leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps stored in plastic coin holder sheets. The oil coating in the plastic leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps stored on standard paper. The acid in the paper leeches onto the stamps.
- Stamps attached to album pages with white glue.
- Stamps attached to album pages with rubber cement.
- Unused stamps attached to album pages by wetting the stamp gum.
- Stamps attached to album pages using stamp selvedge.
- Stamps attached to album pages using medical tape.
- Stamps attached to album pages using used stamp hinges. There is not enough gum on a used hinge to safely hold stamps.
- Stamps attached to album page using from 1/2 to 1/4 of a stamp hinge that was cut to the smaller size by the collector. Such hinges are often too weak to properly hold a stamp.
- Stamps mounted to album pages using clear tube-type (AKA Crystal Mounts). These mounts attract and hold humidity that gets onto stamps and damages gum and paper.
- Stamp pages separated with plastic wrap. The oils in the wrap will leach onto the stamps, and the plastic wrap will hold moisture.
- Stamps attached to album pages with mounts that are too small for the stamp. This causes perf damage,and also creases the stamps.
- Stamps attached to pages with staples.
- Stamps written on the back to identify them, often with ink, or a rubber ID stamp.
- Stamps pulled off backing material rather than soaking or simply cutting away the surrounding backing material, but not cutting so close as to also cut the stamp - another common sight).
- Similar stamps stacked on top of each other in an album space, especially when hinged or taped together.
- Collections full of mostly damaged (filler) stamps.
That's what I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there are more that escape me for the moment. The kicker to all this, of course, is that the collector got very insolent when told that his million dollar collection (in his eyes) was absolutely worthless.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've encountered most of problems that other people have mentioned. I once had a guy get quite angry with because I had to tell him that his album of mint Canadian stamps was worth little more than postage. The majority of stamps were not just hinged, but a bit more spit had been applied than was strictly necessary, with the result many of the stamps were firmly stuck to their page by their own adhesive.
The most "memorable" was a gift for my school's stamp club, from the school's secretary. She lived near the school, and I went home with her to pick up the stamps. The kitchen table was "interesting": A large white angora cat was sitting on the table, happily chewing away on a beef roast that had been left on the table. She shoed the cat away without a comment, and left to retrieve the box of stamps. I glanced briefly at it, thought "Oh my....," and left. That evening I took a closer look. The box was filled with roughly equal parts of loose, off-paper stamps and Angora cat hair. Cat hair and perf teeth have an affinity that I wasn't previously aware of! One ordinary Angora cat hair can become entangled in roughly 34 perf teeth of an ordinary definitive stamp. Seriously! Well, that's how I remember it.... How many rare and valuable stamps did I find? Yeah, right. Next question?
Sometimes it works out well. My stamp club got a donation consisting of hundreds of short sets of common approvals. The owner insisted they were worthless. We didn't think so, but he insisted that we take them off his hands. We did, and sold them in a local commercial auction for more than CAN $1,500.
boB
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a manager of a stamp shop.... I've seen all of these, and more.
Yikes!
David
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
"The worst thing you can say is "This is only a common stamp - how I treat it doesn't matter". "
I now glue my collection to household objects!
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12:08:44am
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
A good way to use stamps. It promotes the hobby.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
About 20-25 years ago I bought an estate collection with an extensive older European section. I came across France #1- it was labeled as such in pencil beneath the stamp and was affixed in the first position on the first page. Only I could not see any of the stamp. This definitive stamp was encased in 4 photo corners in such a way that none but the very center of the stamp (maybe 1/16th of inch) was visible. A valuable stamp seemingly ruined. The best solution would be to cut the stamp out of the album page and soak the whole mess and hope for the best. However, the album itself was an antique and I didn't want to ruin the entire album by having a cut-out on a page. And this was the only stamp in the entire album mounted in this fashion. In the end I sacrificed the album and soaked the stamp- and lost it. The stamp would never separate from any of the photo corners.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
"France #1... the album itself was an antique... In the end I sacrificed the album and soaked the stamp- and lost it."
Ouch! Have had similar experiences, but not yet with a France #1 level of value.
-Steve
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michael, You forgot to mention what is possibly the most common error in mounting stamps.
It starts out by using the nefarious "Crystal Mount". The collector finally gets tired of the stamps falling out of the mount and then proceeds to use Scotch tape to seal the ends of the mount to prevent the problem from occuring. This brilliant idea almost always ruins the stamp from staining of the tape. I have seen this so many times that I have to believe that someone, somewhere advocated such use that found the ear of many a collector.
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07:39:11pm
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did mention Crystal Mounts, but you are 100% correct. I have seen plenty of stamps taped into a Crystal Mount.
Those old Marlate Mounts are horrible too. You can't get them opened easily at all, and often the stamp is ruined when doing so. Also, I have seen people tend to place the stamp on the black paper backing rather on the clear plastic in front of it. The black paper is acidic. No need to say any more about that. I'm sure everyone gets the image of how those stamps looked.
For that reason, and all those listed by others and me above (and I'm sure to follow), I stopped buying collections that are in glassines, stock books with large duplicate quantities of used stamps, Harris-style albums, intermediate collector albums, and even International and Specialty-type collections that are not in Showgard-type mounts. Even then I look at a random selection of stamps in those albums to see the condition. Many damaged stamps (check the gum side) are in albums that look like wonderful MNH collections, and the collections are passed off as such as well.
I understand that there will almost always be damaged or otherwise inferior stamps in a collection. I see it all the time. However, this should be a small percentage of the collection, or else I pass on it.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about a 3" thick "cake" of unused U.S. sheets, ranging from the 1930's-1970's. They were laminated solid, back to front, top to bottom. It took me an entire weekend to soak them free and the better part of a week drying and flattening them. Good for postage,(almost $800 FV) but a shame otherwise.
WB
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
WB, That is a very common sight with sheets and plate blocks. People buy them thinking a good investment. They study them for amount of time and put them with the rest until retirement time. The P.O. encouraged this type of "investment" and it's sad to see how many people believed them.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I'm thinking since there was no musty smell, foxing or any other damage, it was a case of simple humidity that led to their demise. They basically laid in a stack, one on top of the other, possibly under some amount of weight, until moisture in the air fused them together. I can't think of any other scenario that would account for it.
WB
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has anyone used these for postcards or postal stationary? It says acid and lignin free, archival safe.
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05:27:48pm
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have seen a new collection storing method. A collector attached MNH stamps to glassine interleaving sheets. Normally these glassine sheets are used to separate pages to help protect stamps that are hinged to facing pages.
The collector found that the MNH stamps can be peeled off relatively easily if needed, and the stamps will still be MNH. Unfortunately, many stamps will tear or thin during the removal process. I'm sure that this collector would still consider such stamps to be MNH.
Oh, and there were a few used stamps attached to the glassine sheets as well. They were glued on.
Glassine sheets are cheaper than album pages, but what actually was saved?
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BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 500 categories
01 Mar 2017
06:06:14pm
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
"seanpashby said:
Has anyone used these for postcards or postal stationary? It says acid and lignin free, archival safe."
Photo corners are bad news over the long haul. They are too thick. I have bought many collections of postal stationery where the photo corners used have left "dented" impressions in the corners of the cards -- very undesirable.
These are the only style of corners that should be used to mount covers and cards:
Available under many well known philatelic brand names. (Lighthouse, G&K etc )
Roy
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Roy.
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02:23:15am
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prinz also makes a version of those, but they can be difficult to remove from the roll.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best intentions...
Horror story from last week about historical document preservation gone wrong.
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/21/515410087/an-attempt-to-save-south-carolinas-historical-documents-is-destroying-them
(Note: there are some philatelic libraries which have the same issue.)
Don
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09:22:51am
re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's terrible. One would have thought this process would have been tested before it was accepted as a good preservation method. This is something we should remember and avoid about our own personal important papers, documents, probably photographs and such.
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
When an auction lot includes zero-collector-value items in poor condition, I laminate & use them as grandchild bait.
I've done this mostly with banknotes, but would not hesitate to do it with covers et al.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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re: New Methods to Store a Stamp Collection - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roy:
Excellent point on the photo corners! I use the Lighthouse brand (both 19 mm and 32 mm sizes) and they work well.
David in Ottawa, Canada.
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