They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 16 Dec 2015 01:46:15pm
re: Acid free album pages
If you have the proper mounts to protect your stamps, it is doubtful the acidity in the paper would affect them. However, your pages will deteriorate much faster then acid free paper, and may "brown up" and detract from your presentation. Not only that, but the acid in the paper may cause the mount's adhesive to break down and become detached from the page.
I say this not as an expert, but from experience. There are others on this board very knowledgeable in this area and I am sure one or more will chip in.
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
Since we know that acid in paper is detrimental to our stamps, why take a chance? Besides, acid-free paper doesn't cost much (if any) more than regular paper.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 17 Dec 2015 01:00:31am
re: Acid free album pages
Yes, you would probably hard pressed to find any paper that was decent enough to house your collection in, that isn't acid free.
A lot of collectors use 67lb Vellum Bristol for their collection pages. It can be found at Office Depot and other similar outfits. It is available in many different colors but I prefer the Ivory which is similar in color to Scott Specialty album pages and another I color I think is called parchment it has a nice unobtrusive pattern on it, in shades of Buff. You can see a page of it here This paper only comes in 8 1/2 X 11 as far as I know. 250 sheets for around $16.00. If your looking for large album size pages you'll need to go to Kinkos etc or paper supply
There is a difference between "acid-free" and "archival-quality" paper.Most paper used for blank album pages ( quadrille squared ) is more or less acid free, and is adequate for most collections. Really valuable stamps should be mounted on archival-quality paper, and I could cause some controversy here and say that unless you replace your plastic mounts or stock books every 10 years or less, good quality hinges on used stamps on archival quality paper are probably better than in plastic. The biggest dangers to stamps are old gum on mint stamps,old hinges and portions of cards and envelopes with stamps attached. Foxing and moulds etc almost always migrate from old paper( which almost always has acid content) remnants via the perforation points onto the stamps. Pre WW2 printed albums also have very dangerous paper, and I would suggest that most stamps mounted in such albums are at serious risk - and if a collection of stamps in such an album were to come into my possession the first thing I would do is remove the stamps and bin the album !
Provided that you live in moderate humidity,keep your albums vertical ( and don't overfill them) and turn the pages occasionally to drool over your collection - not much harm will come to your treasures.
