How to Keep the Stamps Fine-and-Dandy

Some people are considering the habit of Collecting stamps is more than a hobby and they are willing to adopt it as their lifestyle. In fact, the world has witnessed for decades and even centuries of stamp collection. The case in point: the American Philatelic Society (APS) with its 44,000 members, the biggest society in the entire world, was established as early as 1886.

The excitement for collecting the stamps is rooted in a variety of reasons. Some people will collect the stamps because it helps them to connect to a bigger historical identity of their country. Some others are collecting the stamps simply for their aesthetic value.

However, there are people, who are collecting the stamps on account of its capability to assist for educating the people about the history, culture, and events of various countries. Others contribute in the habit for the thrill of chasing behind the rare stamp to gaining profit from the sales of those rare stamps to another collector, who is in search for the rare stamps.

However, the greatest challenge faced by collectors is the storage and taking care of these collected stamps. The storage of these collected stamps will help in the manageability of the collections. A stamp collection is well organized and catalogue provides to the collector for easiness in monitoring the stamps he or she already has. Otherwise, they cannot locate the duplicates that may be sold to other buyers who may be interested in the same design.

Moreover, stamp collections of huge volume are most preferably stored using minimal space, as much as possible; philatelists recommend that stamps are rather stored upright than laid out.However, the most important factor is to protecting the quality and durability of the collected stamps. As the stamps are printed on paper, it will definitely be perishable.

Therefore, the life of the collected stamps is subject to a huge variety of natural conditions, which can make or break the worth of the stamp to the collector or future prospective buyers.Protection of the stamp begins from the proper handling. Some professionals use tongs to handle the stamps to keep the hands away from the stamp. The natural oil found on the hands can corrode the stamp with in a duration.

More importantly, all the stamp collectors are facing the greater challenge of protecting the stamps from the natural conditions like moisture, dust, heat, decay, and the likewise.

The humid and warm places are unfit for the storage of the stamps. Some of the places that must not be used to store the stamp collections including the basements and attics, where is the tendency to get extremely warm in some seasons.

Heat has very strong capacity to discolor and destroy the quality of the stamp than the moisture. Continuous exposure to the sun rays or heat will cause for the colors to fade over time and making the design details as unnoticeable.

Dust and other dirty particles have the corrosive property for damaging the stamps. Moreover, dusts create the threat of becoming dirty in the face or design of the stamp, compromising the design centered on it.

As such, it is a complete necessity to find adequate cases and storage solutions for stamp collections.While transferring the stamps into the permanent albums, philatelists are recommending the use of glassine, a very thin transparent paper that protects stamps from dust and air.

These albums, as much as possible, should be away from all forms of plasticizers. The plasticizers having the tendency for chemically react to the mechanism of the stamp, especially under high humidity and heat. The stamp can get completely ruined or may get stick in to the album permanently, if the plasticizers are present there.

However, an album is not the permanent protection for the stamp collection, which may have to keep for many centuries. Usually, the collectors make their cases dust-free by putting albums inside dust covers before storing them; others store their stamp albums in cabinets with doors or glass covers to minimize any other ulterior exposure to dust.

It is important to maintain stamps dust-free and it is also imperative that the stamps should not be stored in an airtight container. Airtight containers leave no room for the stamp to 'breathe', and may cause the deterioration of the stamp.

 

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