Removing Stamps From Albums

Hi everyone

With my inherited collection I've been putting loose stamps in small baggies and labelling them. I have three albums with hinged stamps. If I want to catalog what I have (in order to correctly identify these stamps) is it ok to remove them and scan and place them in labelled baggies?

Thanks everyone

raypie

I recommend scanning them the pages first for possible future reference and/or to preserve your family's member work.
Don

Thanks Don

You seem to be the guru for this site!

raypie

Nope, just a hobbyist trying to give back a bit.
Don

Would probably be worth your picking up a decent quality stock-book to put the stamps in - the step beyond an initial sort into envelopes/glassines.

Or Vario pages. They make for a nice presentation with the black background.

Jack Kelley

raypie,

I would be very very careful how you remove the stamps from your album. Just pulling them out and or pulling the hinges off may well damage the stamps creating a thin spot that radically decreases their value and desirable to collectors. In order to preserve your album page I would very carefully clip the hinge on its fold with a pair of cuticle scissors then soak the hinge remnant off of the back of the stamp.

Hopefully others will comment on their preferred method to remove stamps from an album, too.

Have fun and welcome to our hobby.

Thanks hoosierboy

I agree with what others have said about storing your stamps. I don't believe baggies is the way to go -- much greater risk of damage.

I recommend against baggies, especially if they have those self sealing zipper tops (they'll cut your stamps in half!) Stock cards, glassines, sales cards...would be better.

IMHO stamps should be stored in stock cards, stock pages, vario pages, or something similar. Vario pages have the advantage of being more "archival." I have a pet peeve about stamps being stored or shipped loosely. Loose stamps allowed to move around against each other cause folds and bent corners.