Posted on July 29, 2010 - by Ashley

Caring for Your Stamps

• Keep food, drinks and tobacco products away from your collection. Keep them off your desk or table when your Stamps are there. Wet stamps can be considered ruined stamps and they can devalue.
• Use special flat-bladed stamp collector’s tongs in order to handle stamps. Stamps are fragile and require the delicate care that tongs provide. To take stamps out of an envelope, you may want to use a curved scalpel to ease out the stamp from the paper, after it has been soaked in water.
• Use easily peeled stamp hinges (those designed with adhesive or gummy backings) to arrange your collections in an album.
• In order to make them look more pleasant to the eyes, use stamp mounts (clear plastic sleeves with gummed backing) for your “mint” condition stamps. Your stamps are preserved better with the original adhesive gum on the backs of your best stamps.
• I always use the stamp album. To make your collections more organized, use stamp albums. Some of them are binders with pages specifically designed for storing stamps, or stock books with pockets you can insert stamp mounts into.
• For your stamps, always buy the highest-quality supplies. You may want to look for archival-quality materials, especially for album pages that your stamps will be in contact with. Your stamps may be valued at more than what you think they are, it is safe to take care of them with high priority.
• You may use one side of an album page for hinged stamps. You may insert a separate sheet between album pages. This way, this will keep your stamps from damaging each other.
• Lastly, store your collection in the normal living space of your home. It is important that you keep it to a place where you can visibly notice insects lurking in your collection. Your living room is temperature- and humidity-controlled, so this is a better place to keep your albums.
• Direct sunlight can damage your stamps. It can cause colors to fade, and for the gum at the back to dry up, making your stamps permanently stick to where it is mounted.
• Remember, if the temperature and humidity in your home is comfortable for you, they’re probably all right for your collection.