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Storing Your Stamps
How you store and handle your stamp collection will determine its longevity and value.
![](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/collecting_storage.jpg)
When storing your stamp collection you should ensure the following:
- Store them in a dark place – UV light can damage your stamps, so don’t leave them out in the open.
- Store them in a dry place – In humid environments stamps can develop mold. If you are in a humid environment then consider using “damprid” or similar in the cupboard that you store your stamp albums in.
- Keep them up high – Ensure they cannot be easily accessed by children who might want to play with them.
- Flat Storage – Stock books and stamp albums are great because they will keep your stamps flat, this protects the perforations and stops creases. However, always keep the stock books/albums stored upright, not stacked one on top of the other as too much pressure could damage your stamps or force them to stick to the pages.
- Acid free always – All good stamp albums nowadays are made with acid free cardboard and plastics – always ensure that your stamp albums/stock books are acid free. Look for “archival quality”.
- Smoke Free – If you’re a smoker, please, please, please do not smoke around your stamps. We’ve seen how nicotine smoke can stain items, stamps are no different.
Handling your Stamps
Here are my tips for handling your stamps:
- Reduce Handling – Reduce the amount of handling that you will need to perform. Consider how you want to archive your stamps in stock books or albums. For example, by year, by country, by stamp quality, by topic. Recognize that your stamp collection will grow over time and you will therefore be adding to it. Try to structure your archive so that you don’t have to move multiple stamps around in order to fit new ones in.
- Always use Tweezers – never touch stamps with your fingers (no matter how clean you think they are there are always oils that can cause damage). Additionally, if you’ve just washed and dried your hands then they may still be slightly damp which can also cause damage, especially to mint stamps. Always make sure stamps are completely dry before storing them away.
- Consider Digital– It’s impractical to take your collection with you every where that you go. This site is my virtual collection, I can refer to it from anywhere at anytime. It helps me to be able to quickly figure out if there’s something that I’m missing or something that I’m desperate to add. I travel a lot, life is busy, I can’t keep track of the thousands of individual items that I have. I often refer back to the site even from home – it’s quicker to search my collection online than it is to go through my many albums of stamps, coins, FDC’s, etc. You don’t need to build a site or be a developer, subscribe to an online stamp catalog (like colnect.com) and you can build your virtual collection there and access it from anywhere.