Slumping Stamp Album Pages

My Harris Liberty stamp album pages are slumping below the binder, I assume due to the weight of the stamps plus mounts on the pages, so many pages are curling at the bottom 1/4" to 1/2".
The albums aren't over stuffed but I'm sure they were for years. I don't imagine storing my albums laying flat is a safe solution.

Is there anything I can do save buying new albums to fix this issue?
I know I could trim the bottom of the pages but that wouldn't look very attractive.

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I had the same problem with my Harris' several years ago. It might be time to migrate to a new platform. I transitioned over to Mystic's Heirloom.

Jack Kelley

Over the years, the weight and the movement have most likely made the holes in the page more oval than original. What about using re enforcement rings on the pages?

Or add spacers and additional binders.

Jack Kelley

You're discovering one of the trade-offs of inexpensive stamp albums. Page thickness is one of the factors that collectors often forget to consider when buying an album. Thinner pages is one way a manufacturer keeps their cost down. But thinner pages may also end up not supporting the weight of the stamps. If you add stamp mounts instead of lighter hinges you have even more weight and may have a real weight problem. Plus, if the pages are in a looseleaf style binder, you don't even have the spine supporting the pages, but just the rings or pins. That's pretty much a recipe for "page sag". Heavier weight pages -- Scott, Davo (which sells both thick and thin pages), Schaubeck, Lighthouse -- will solve your problem. Their pages are much heavier and will support stamps and mounts with no problem. Not as cheap as thin pages, though! One alternative to their (expensive)pre-printed pages is to use blank pages from these manufacturers.

If you go that route, I've found Schaubeck's blank pages to be excellent and a relative bargain even compared to Scott blank pages (which are actually pretty expensive). You would need to use Schaubeck's binders, however, so there's no free lunch. IHobb sells Schaubeck binders with blank pages at very good prices if you choose to go the "make your own" pages route. It's fun to make your own pages, laying out stamps as you wish.

Or print your own (Steiner) pages onto heavier blank paper. Paper weighing about 65 "pounds"(as they say in Paper Land) seems ideal to me and will support stamps and mounts. These will necessarily have to be 8.5 x 11 sized pages (printer paper size) because only that size will fit most printers. This is a bit small for my taste. But not a bad option -- and very cheap.

If I had to buy a pre-printed album with sturdy pages, I'd go with Scott for affordability because their pre-printed pages are a good deal less expensive than other album makers (even though their blank pages are not -- go figure), but still very handsome. It's often best to go with the standard and easily-available album. Some of the others are not only more expensive but harder to source. Scott albums are easy to find. That's why I mostly use Scott albums.

Even the Schaubeck album pages tend to tilt down to theright over time. It's a bit annoying when I slide the binder from the dust cover and the bottom of the pages rub against the dust cover. You can see a small ghost of blue ink on the bottom pages. I have 10 Schaubeck binders with Schaubeck pages, and it's an issue with all of them.

I've had this too. It's very frustrating.

I know accepted wisdom is to not store albums flat, but has anyone ever tried storing them sideways? By that I mean standing on shelves, but rotated 90 degrees, with the opening edge at the bottom and the spine at the top? That would mean the pages just hang, straight downwards. The ring mechanism would prevent them from sagging down, as it holds the pages in place.

I turn the album upside down (on the shelf); by rotating them periodically the sagging is minimized.
Don

I've always used reinforcement rings.

Sounds like someone needs to invent a stamp album brassiere.

Jim

Adding cardboard spacers along the spine of the album between every so-many pages will tighten up the pages along the spine and keep them from moving around as much -- in a peg-fitting album. This won't work in a loose leaf album, though. That is one of the drawbacks of ring binders and one of the appeals of peg-fitting and springback albums which hold pages more snugly.

Keeping the album in a dustcover may hold the covers tight enough against the pages to keep them from slipping downward with gravity. I suppose you could wrap a large rubber band around the covers to keep them snug against the pages if you don't have dustcovers? I'm not completely kidding about that.

I wonder if inserting extra pages -- like blank pages -- would help snug up the pages against the covers and keep them from slipping?

Or you could attach a large binder clamp to the pages when you put the album away? Again, not entirely kidding about this. It might work.

Reviving this thread to share - I recently purchased a '47 BB in great shape - pages are clean and un-tanned (maybe the acid-free debate isn't as important as I thought?).

Previous owner had placed cardboard, cut to size, in between the page block and the covers on both ends - see pics. Definitely helped keep things square.

I think storing the album on its side might be best, assuming you intend to leaf through it on even a semi-regular basis and don't store anything top of it.

That cardboard is acidic and will accelerate toning and acidification of the pages and stamp around it. An archival solution would be to use plastic instead.

For example
https://www.amazon.com/Corrugated-C...6433&sr=8-31

(These are Polypropylene and that is typically considered safe, but it would still be an experiment and that means watching/testing over time for any changes.)
Don

Don, indeed- there's been some serious toning of the two (fortunately blank) pages closest to the cardboard. Rest of the page block is fine. But good idea about plastic as an alternative.

That old album is in beautiful shape!!! I wish I had seen it - it'd be mine, now, instead of your's!!! (:-P)

Don has pointed out in the past that simply preventing direct contact with acidic paper/cardboard is not good enough. There may well be outgassing over the years and so anything in the vicinity of the offending product may get damaged, toned. Although the support from the cardboard looks like a great idea, it should probably be replaced - if it is toning the paper it is in contact with, it may be damaging stamps that are a couple of layers deeper. It would take a lot longer, but if we want these things to last (dare I say...) forever, this would be a smart first move.

mootermutt - thanks for pointing that out; I had no idea that outgassing was a thing with paper! Do you think replacing the old corrugated cardboard with new cardboard would be good for now? The pages are in great shape (no visible toning0 and I'd like to keep them that way.

I'm hopefully going to get rid of the cardboard permanently once the album is full enough of stamps, but I like the idea of keeping the page block square and tight until then.