To Switch Or Not To Switch Album Pages?

I have been using Lighthouse VARIO black (PVC) pages to mount my stamps in their VARIO binders. Over the last month or so I have been thinking of remounting my stamps into VARIO clear (polyester) pages instead. This would mean having to buy around double the number of pages since the clear pages are not double sided like the black pages are. Thus, I am thinking about whether to do it or not as the main reason behind this change is found in the article "Choosing Safe Plastics" at https://postalmuseum.si.edu/choosing-safe-plastics

I refuse to worry too much about whether one type of expensive stock-page is "safer" than another. And having wasted money on switching between leaves etc, I'd recommend that you stick with what you have. The clear pages have a particular value in certain circumstances - eg displaying perfins, comparing watermarks, showing covers with interesting marks on both sides etc - but not for the general run of stamps.

Put your money into your stamps not their holders
Holders have no value when it is time to sell; stamps do!

That is not a big enough change. If you are going to change, go from vario to scott or palo or davo etc.
Stamp albums do have value if you are willing to keep them in good shape.
The reason is that storage is a cost and the smart collector tries to get ahead of this. But in your case, I would not make the switch.

Whatever album brand you store your stamps in, check for degradation.
The following picture shows one of my 40+ brown albums (from a well-known German manufacturer) with a probably 20+ years old page (where I store booklet panes and booklets). Supposedly hassle-free inert hard PVC pages.



If you look closely, you can see yellowing around the borders of each pouch hlding the individual panes. some of which have also been infected.
Some pages may be over 30 years old (albums never exposed to sunlight).

My urgent advice for you (and all collectors) using such albums is:

Check your pages for beginning degradation. Even if stored correctly, my guess is after 20 years things start to turn bad, no matter what the album maker tells you.

I thought I was on the safe side with the albums. In my case, I am pretty sure the culprits are the brown plastic-like sheets (shown on the left of the image) that "protect" the first and last page in an album. I have a few red and blue albums, same old ages, zero degradation noticable.

With PVC album pages, expect the unexpected....

When did we establish that Vario Sheets are harmful to stamps and covers?

According to Lighthouse,




Source:

https://www.lighthouse.us/vario-sheets.html

The black sheets are made of "Hard PVC, perhaps?"

If ANY recent VARIO stock pages are harmful to stamps or covers, that
would be one of the largest deceptions in recent philatelic history, IMHO.

Where is the definitive proof, one way or another?

John

This is true about degradation of albums. You have to look. Once you start to see severe toning of the pages, foxing of any kind or the plastic starts to turn or wait for it .... the glue that holds the plastic start to turn, you might think about upgrading albums.