Storing, Displaying Physical 3 Cent Imperfs

So, up front, I'm not a licker and sticker. Really not into sticking stamps in an album. I collect US stamps for plating mostly and currently store them in stock pages. It works but it's a little messy and unorganized.

Curious how other collectors or platers keep their stamps?

Thanks.

Here is how I keep mine. I've mounted the ones I am using for plate reconstruction and my duplicates are on stock pages.

An example plating I showed here:

https://goscf.com/t/57739&whichpage=29#721728

Hi Moyock --

Thank you for asking how others store and display their 3c material -- as beyond the cosmetics -- the subject has important implications to the care and preservation of the stamps themselves.

Back in the late 1980's -- when I first started to specialize in the 1851 - 1857 3c issues -- I had some horrible experiences with my 3c stamps becoming badly sulphuretted with many of the commercially manufactured stock sheets and approval cards that are on the market. I tried all of the supposedly "archival" brands -- Lighthouse Vario's, Lindner, SAFE, etc., etc. -- and with all of them -- within 6 months of storage -- I noticed that my stamps were sulphuretting. I am not a scientist -- but after doing some research, I am of the belief that the various plastics used in these products were the culprit.

Long story short -- the only mounting pages that I currently use for everything I own are Hagner pages. They are advertised to be manufactured using only PH neutral card stock and 100% clear polyester foil. My very general understanding is that products like Mylar and Melinex are simply brand names for 100% pure polyester (although, admittedly, I might be wrong on this). In any event, although by no means scientific -- I can say that I have NEVER had an 1851 - 1857 3c stamp (or any other stamp for that matter) sulphurette on a Hagner page -- and I have had many of my stamps mounted on these pages over a period of almost 30 years.

Here are links to a couple of articles about stamps and plastics that you may find interesting:

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/S...tics1of2.pdf

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/S...tics2of2.pdf

As far as the display goes -- I find Hagners flexible enough to suit all of my needs. They come in 1-row through 8-row formats -- and there is even a specialty format with 3 different sized rows -- enabling the display of singles, blocks, and covers all on the same page. Below are 5 sample pages from my collection -- all as follows -- 1 from my 3c plate reconstructions, 1 from my color chart, 1 from my plating duplicates stock book, and 2 from a small exhibit I put together after the passing of my plating mentor (Dick Celler -- who I miss every day).

I also use 2 row and 3 row Hagners for basic cover displays -- and even 1 row Hagners for the occasional oversized cover. For stamps I want to house on a standard sized approval card -- I simply use a paper cutter to cut down 6 row Hagners to the standard approval card size -- and I order Melinex cover sleeves from Atlantic Protective pouches in which to insert the approval cards. Years ago, I spoke to Hagner about manufacturing standard size approval cards -- both 1 row and 2 row -- but they required a minimum order of 10,0000 cards -- which was just too much for me to handle.

In any case -- a sampling of my collection -- all mounted on Hagner pages -- is below.

Regards // ioagoa

PS -- Thanks again to Don for hosting these large files on StampSmarter which enabled me to show them here.


First up -- here is a page from my 3c 1851 imperforate plate reconstructions:




Next is a page from my color collection:




Here is a sample page from my stock book of plating duplicates:




And lastly -- 2 pages of a small collection of the 1c blues of 1851 - 1857 -- showing an example from each of the plates that produced these stamps:

Harper, txstamp, ioagoa, Thank you guys for providing some insight into your collections and organization. I greatly appreciate it. You all have awesome collections!

Interestingly, I'm not too far off. I currently use Vario pages, simply due to the cost. Though I have been slowly changing over to Hagner pages for the same reason ioagoa explained.

Thanks.

Fortunately I used Hagner pages for most of my "better" stamps and since the 1980's they have appeared to maintain their color and quality. Still learning and hope to continue to do so. SCF has proven invaluable to me, thanks everyone.