Foxing/Rust On Stamps

The best avenue is to move to Calgary! ha ha - the weather here means I'll never have a problem with this stuff.

I have a digital temperature / humidity gauge in the house with a min / max memory on it. In the summer, it averages about 36-38% humidity. In the winter, it averages about 24-26%, and on extremely cold days will drop as low as about 15% inside. The low humidity doesn't do a thing to reverse any discolouration, but it never promotes any. None of the gummed stamps stick together either - I store them 20 to a 102 card and it never causes any problems.

You can get a static electricity shock off of just about anything in the winter, though. The cats hate it ...

Ryan

Yeah, well, I'll take the humidity and the board shorts on the beach thanks Ryan. Hang the stamps




I get that all the time from my car, it is really irritating
especially when one is not mindful.

nothing to be afraid of kg just move to calgary or do what I do :)

hmmm, so your saying South Florida in my 1940's style house is not an ideal location...

AFAIK, too low humidity can be about as big issue as too much... Too dry air increases degeneration of paper and glue by breaking up fibers. I've seen some (very old) mint stamps that have been like "stoned" after being in too dry for ages. Bend them a bit, and they snap to pieces like glass...

That said, I think this summer was far from average in northern Europe. The heat was constantly on, and the humidity figures were also very high... Not good conditions for stamps (or stamp collectors for that matter) at all. Way too hot and humid.