Are Plastic Sleeves OK? Lots Of Questions?

Hi everyone, I'm still pretty new so any help would be greatly appreciated. Plus I want to get away with this as cheap as I can without destroying anything.

1. Are plastic sleeves OK. The kind you get from the store for pictures or presentations? I got a whole box of them and would melt them (with my food saver )into little boxes with slits cut to put the stamp in, keeping the sheet whole so I could put it in a binder.
2. What's the best way to separate stamps? I have a lot stuck together and tons still affixed to the covers that have been cut off.
3. Should I even remove them from the cut-off covers or just cut it down?
4. If I have different stamps attached to cut-off covers should I separate them or leave them together?
5. I cleaned a stamp with diluted hydrogen peroxide, is that the only household chemical to use?
6. Drying stamps; OK on plain white paper?
7. Is there a definitive way to tell if a stamp has never been hinged except for checking for a cancel, and all the gum on the back looks like it's still there?

My avatar should be up soon I hope...



Thanks for your help, I know you all think this stuff is pretty basic.

Nick

Not a good idea. Probably OK for most stamps short term, but not recommended for >1 year. And never store the stamps laying flat in those non-archival plastic sleeves. Some stamp/cancel inks will react with the plastic, accelerated by the pressure of other stamps/sheets on top of it. Always store your albums upright.

Proper stamp storage is something you should not try to cut down to bare minimum. Eventually, you will pay the price, and often it's with one of the more valuable stamps in your collection. A simple stamp stockbook is not as expensive as you might think.



If the stamps are not self-adhesive stamps, then soak them face down in cold water until you see the first few stamps start loosen from the paper (they will start sinking to the bottom). Avoid soaking the stamps for more than 30 minutes.



There will be differences of opinion here. See what the others have to say.



I don't recommend chemically cleaning/altering stamps. However, others will have a different opinion. Never used water-based solutions (such as hydrogen peroxide) on mint stamps -- you will lose the gum. Also, if you deliberately chemical clean/alter your stamps, it doesn't require an expert to recognize it. You should document it to avoid future issues regarding fraud.



Face down on blotting paper is better. I use face down on higher quality disposal paper towels (e.g., Viva, which has much less fiber release) or very high thread count clean room quality cotton wipes (reusable). To keep the stamps flat while they completely dry, I press them with an Imperial Drying Book (combination of blotting pages and glossy-faced pages -- almost nothing will stick to the glossy-faced pages).



That is the standard way and good enough for >99% of stamps. When you get into regumming problems, then it gets more complicated.

Enjoy your stamps!

k

Your first mistake, is to think , that we think,
your questions are basic.

I think they are valid, well reasoned and entirely appropriate
well done you.
Had you not asked, you may have wasted years of energy.




Absolutely not, the reasoning here is, that 99% of stamps
exist in gadzillions in their natural state.
By further mutilating a piece may deprive yourself
of a valuable postmark or auxiliiary marking.

Bide your time, in two or three years you can begin to make
value judgements on what to soak
If a stamp on piece has no marking or anything
of the part cover that is not interesting then go ahead.

By the way, well done on your thread title,

You can consider SCF a Library of knowledge,
and by searching this forum, you can get many valuable
insights on whatever you collect.

Those who take time to intelligently construct
a pertinent thread topic, benefit all, by increasing the hit count.

Titles like "what's this?" benefit no one in the long term
and the effort in assisting is wasted.
(Unless after ID the author changes the title to something pertinent)

Excellent point and excellent advice!

I will toss in a slightly different opinion on the plastic sleeves. I buy first quality ARCHIVAL safe sleeves from office supply firms and have great success. I cover all of my album pages and stock pages with them and I use them for mint sheetlets with an archival paper backing sheet. One of the best things I like about them is that all my album pages turn smoothly in the binder, don't get folded, or stained (don't work around food!) and the little paper holes don't tear out from turning the pages (we are going to play with our collection and turn pages aren't we?) Welcome - and I have asked a lot of basic questions and have never found such a helpful group as the SCF!

Can anyone offer links or sources for Archival Plastic Sleeves please?
I have been using Marbig (made in china)
they pass the Beilstein test, but the makeup
is not broadcast on the packaging
These were $9 per 100
I am awaiting some samples from Melbourne of Archival plastic sleeves
at $9 per 25
I'd like to try all avenues first, so if anyone has recomendations
please post.
Thanks.

I buy mine from Staples, they have a set that are archival quality.

Link to US Staples: http://www.staples.com/Staples-Stan...roduct_40713

Thanks
but Staples is not welcoming to overseas customers
I couldn't get in :(

I sometimes see archival sheets (or so the package says archival) at local Target stores or Walgreen Drug stores. They seem to be fairly cheep but should I trust their archival quality or should I stick with more trusted sources. I was thinking from a store that sells stuff for scrap booking. Lots of the stuff comes from China as well.

Thanks Vacuum man,
Yes, I know what you mean,
on the Marbig box it reads,
"will keep paper in good condition for a long time"
That's ambiguous,
I mean it could last the entire lifetime of the Mayfly....( 1 day) :)

I am of the thought that the type of plastic used would be most important factor. Polypropylene seems to be what is recommended.

I found this site that has some interesting product cheap but made for archival. Never bought from them just found them recently. I am thinking of the 35mm holders as cheap mounts for stamps. They look similar to the crystal mounts of long ago but with a more modern material. Maybe even sticking a black archival backing inside as well.

http://www.archivalmethods.com/prod...productid=76

Hmmmm we are getting there,
ideally, I would like to get my cheap Marbig page protectors tested
but I don't know where to go to get that done.

Your link suggests polyproplene is OK but Polyester
is the most inert plastic

Unfortunately they only offer a three ring binder adaption :(


Features: The 3 mil uncoated Melinex 516 (Dupont's replacement for Mylar D) ensures that both the protective sleeve or adjacent prints will not chemically interact. Polyester is the clearest most chemically inert of the plastics used for archival storage products. One-piece construction with a flap edge on the three ring hole side provides easy access when need. An acid- and lignin-free insert sheet lets you safely file two documents back-to-back. For filing a two-sided document, simply remove the insert. The 9 x 11'' protector is designed to hold an 8 1/2 X 11'' print or document without the need to punch holes in the original. The 10 x 11'' protector is sized to accommodate card-mounted prints, postcard and documents. Oval ring binder holes makes turning pages easy and avoids hole tearing with heavy use.


I'll post again when I get my archival samples arrive from Sydney