Ye Olde Album Pages- Is Discoloration (Foxing?) A Problem?

I recently purchased a mostly complete collection of Czech stamps to 1950 on old Scott album pages. The edges of the pages show a tannish brown discoloration. I have a Minkus Master Global Album with similar issues. Is this a problem I should be concerned about enough to prompt immediate removal of all the stamps and remounting in a different album?

This sounds more like shelf-storage marking than foxing, which is spotting on pages.

Can you post some images?
Don

GeoffHa's got it. I assume its just affecting the page edges here, so it's just ageing and not-perfect storage. Part of it may be years of oil from fingers handling the pages.

Your stamps are okay. Just store your albums in a cool, dry place away from direct sun, working fireplaces, cooking smoke, etc.

If the pages have become acidified (toned and brittle) then it might warrant getting the stamps off of them. A few images would be helpful to understand what is at work here.
Don

My old stamp albums are same , yellowing dis colored.

Is there any thing that can be done to remove or lighten the spotting?

Seems storing in slip cases would prevent this.

I have several Scott albums purchased roughly 40 years ago.Paper appears to be archival quality;the albums are in good shape.My problem is that the lettering on the gold stamped titles on the spines of the albums has worn away and is largely illegible.
There is a chance that some well-meaning but ignorant person has
used some cleaner like Fantastik on the cloth in dusting the albums.
The well-meaning but ignorant person denies this.Has anyone else experienced this almost complete loss of the gold stamped titles on the spines of their albums? I guess there could be an age related failure of the glue attaching the gold leaf.

You can buy replacement labels which glue onto Scott Specialty albums. That should renew your faded gold lettering. Of course they can also be used on other brands of albums, but they are dark green if that's a problem.

As for page staining, there are different kinds. Spotting of brown discolorations is usually called "foxing" and is an organic problem that develops on paper in moist environments. A lot of stamp collections get put into basements and garages where high humidity damages them. Mildew is similar, easily recognizable by its sharp smell. You can try using an art gum artists' white eraser and see if you can remove these stains, but it's unlikely to work.

For removing the bad smell of mildew, use a long plastic storage box. Place the album in the middle on top of something to raise it a few inches from the bottom (a couple of Tupperware containers will work), then pour a box of baking soda around the album (it won't hurt the album if you accidentally spill some on the pages, but try not to). Then leave the album there for a few weeks. This can reduce or eliminate the mildew smell as baking soda absorbs odors well. You can also add crumpled paper towels around the album sprayed with odor-killing air freshener (Lysol is good), as well.

An alternative mildew killer is sunshine. Put anything with mildew in the bright sunshine on a very hot day for a few hours and it will kill mildew. This isn't recommended for stamps, however! It can be used on blank pages, binders, and so on.

Brownish tan edges on album pages may just be aging of the paper. Much album paper is not acid-free so it ages badly. Time for new pages. Or handling can give it a stained look. People don't always wash their hands before handling their albums. Tobacco can also stain pages (as well as giving them a bad odor). Dried, brittle pages need replacing, too.

Wet pages can get stained, as well, and that usually can't be removed. And it's likely to develop mildew.

The most effective solution is to transfer your stamps to some high quality album pages, and be sure they're acid-free. A bit laborious, but worthwhile. Store albums in a dry environment, using a dehumidifier if you can. To save existing pages, you may have to live with some limited staining, but be aware that foxing and mildew can also migrate to your stamps and ruin them. Pages with those problems should be replaced.