US Stamp Album Advice Please - Trying To Restart A Collection

Cheap albums use cheap paper. Cheap paper, even if is marketed as 'acid-free' is a fools' errand. You get what you pay for, archival paper is expensive.

Advertising paper as 'acid-free' is a lot like the marketing of food as 'all natural'. There is no industry standard for 'acid free'; paper manufacturers use the term 'acid free' simply because they do not add any acids during the production process and/or add some Calcium Carbonate for buffering. How much they add, how 'acid free' the paper really is can be anyone's guess. Throw a bit in there, and you can sell it as 'acid free' paper.

Paper, like water, has the ability to hold buffer in reserve. As time and environmental conditions evolve, the buffer that is held in reserve can be drawn upon to neutralize the paper. It might be able to neutralize the paper for 10 years, it might be able to neutralize the paper for 1 year. And the ability to neutralize is impacted by the environmental conditions. If there is high humidity and temperature conditions, or if there are large variations and swings in the temperature and humidity, the need to consume the remaining neutralizing buffer reserves is much greater.

You can also find a large amount of paper marketed as 'acid free' even when it includes recycled wood fiber! Any time you have wood fiber in the paper it means that there is pulp and the resulting Lignin. Lignin is the 'stuff' (organic substance) that binds cells and fibers in wood. It is the source of the acid. If you have Lignin in the paper, you have the potential to produce acid over time.

This is the fallacy of acid-free paper marketing; how much buffering a paper may contain to neutralize the acidic Lignin organics is undefined. The paper can also still contain a substantial amounts of Lignin. Simply using a paper that is sold as 'acid-free' and thinking that you are covered for decades is foolish. This is especially true if you purchased the cheapest acid-free paper you could find.

I think that if a person wants true archival paper they should look for paper buffered with at least 2-3% calcium carbonate, has a cotton content of 25% or greater, and should only contain high alpha cellulose pulp from purified wood fiber (contains no Lignin). Then store albums and stamps in environmentally controlled areas. Heat and moisture accelerate the chemical reactions that cause paper to deteriorate, and high moisture levels can result in mold growth. A cool, dry and stable storage environment is paramount; temperatures should be held at a constant 70°F with a relative humidity held between 30% and 50%.

To learn more you can check out these links
http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/paper.html

http://www.niso.org/publications/tr/tr01.pdf
Don
APS #094826

Keep in mind that you will put at least $ 150 in mount in a Mystic album, paper is tin, the holes on the pages will eventually tears.

Damaged pages can be replaced but this is one of the topics where everyone have you can always have a method that is claimed to be safer.

I do not have the history but believe that 99% of damage is more from environmental (improper temperature, humidity) and handling as long it is in a good mount. For those that uses hinges, many more factors come into play.

Al

Are there ANY album producers which use true archival paper? Heck, are there any which even define the percentage of buffering agent, cotton content or if the paper contains any Lignin? If so, I have never seen them.

The cheaper album manufacturers use the cheapest paper they can get away with. You get what you pay for. Here is the typical true, archival paper spec and cost.

8-1/2 x 11 archival paper - $9.20 per 50 pages
Specifications:
- High alpha cellulose pulp from purified wood fiber with 25% Cotton
- Buffered with calcium carbonate 2-3% alkaline reserve, pH 9 ±0.5, acid–free.
- Paper passes the PAT (Photographic Activity Test) ISO IT 18916 (formerly ISO 14523 ANSI IT9.16).
- Sulfur content is less than 0.0008% reducible sulfur
- Lignin content is tested by TAPPI 236 cm-85 and has a Kappa number of less than five.


Now here is what some people buy and use
Hmmermill Acid-free paper
Acid-free for added archival quality that extends the life of the document. $13.79 per 500 sheets.

Both are sold as acid-free, archival paper. But there is a world of difference between the two papers. True acid-free archival paper, or albums made with it, it going to set you back a substantial amount of money.

Ask album manufacturers for REAL paper specs. Be informed, make educated decisions. Don't just assume that because they say 'acid-free' that you are getting good quality paper.
Don

Don from what I can see, lighthouse use a paper very simmilar to the 100% cotton paper Fabriano ( inventor of the watermark ) and Arches sold for watercolor , at least with my eyes and touch

Here from Lighthouse page where they said they use no wood fibres, I send them an email to have more info

https://www.leuchtturm.com/epages/l...s/DE/DE_1702

100% cotton paper is considered archival and is somewhat affordable. I did some consulting work for the National Archives back in the early 2000s, and confirmed this with a number of the archivists there.

But I don't know of any albums printed on 100% cotton paper. I wish album makers would start selling PDFs of the albums, so I could print them out myself on whatever paper I want.

Thanks all for the further information. While I believe the "You only have to buy quality once" and "Do it right or don't do it at all" philosophies are generally good rules to follow I am afraid that the Lighthouse and other high end albums are currently a bit more than I am comfortable with.

However, along with the stamp collection I also got my Dad's pocket change stash (unfortunately no coins older than about 1995) which I turned in to the bank today. Since that amount was a little over $425 I am going to take it as a sign to pick up a set of the Scott National albums.

Once again - thanks for all the links, hints and tips!

George

Your other option is to buy a subscription to stampalbums.com and print your own pages and whatever paper you want.

Here's a related question. I'm thinking about starting another collection of US classics, 1845 - 1925. I use Steiner pages and love them. But for this project I'm considering a somewhat different approach (at least for me). I'd like to mount this collection in a vintage album. Anybody know where I could find a decent album from 1925 or so? Even better would be one with pages I could either reproduce on archival paper, or maybe just include as examples of what the album originally looked like. Thoughts? Fool's errand?

Free US pages here http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Fo...gesHome.html
Don

It's worth combing auctions. Those here often have Gibbons albums from the 1920s, so I assume that US auctions would deliver plenty of vintage Scotts. Then a question of finding one that's not too knocked about. I used a 1920s Gibbons Ideal for a while - fun, and better illustrations than modern reprints, although the paper was rather inferior.

Thanks, all. The rather ornate borders of the free stampsmarter.com pages would look great in a vintage album, I think. Have to figure out which 1920's era vintage album to get, format, paper, and so forth. On to the hunt!