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This article is written by David Beech, FRPSL and published
here with his kind consent. |
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| How to look after your Collection - A Basic Guide |
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Based on a Paper given at the 87th Philatelic Congress of Great
Britain, Derby on 8th July, 2005
.....continued
Physical Damage
That care should be taken in handling material should be taken for
granted. One University library that lends books had or has a notice
that said something like “Books should be stored with care and should be
kept away from rodents, silverfish, insects, children and other vermin”.
I have seen small photo corners cause much damage especially to covers.
The act of using them may cause physical damage to the corners of a
cover over time. Clearly material should be handled with clean hands,
but even so the moisture on all skin will transfer to the stamp or
cover. This is why in libraries and archives rare materials are often
handled with special gloves.
Peelable stamp hinges if applied correctly are safe to use. Many
collectors are not good at using hinges and it would be a good idea if
philatelic societies gave lessons to new collectors on their use. In any
event minimal moisture should be used and the hinge should only be
applied to the very top of a stamp. Plastic mounts are a safe
alternative if made of polyester.
The writing in pencil on covers of a price by dealers and others should
be avoided as every time it is removed by eraser it will damage the
paper and if repeated will eventually cause a hole in the paper.
It may be of interest to the reader to give the policy we apply at
British Library Philatelic Collections on the mounting and housing of
its collections. Such arrangements have to last one hundred years.
Stamps or covers are mounted in polyester mounts on conservation quality
album pages which are placed in a polyester protector. These, about
sixty at a time depending on the material, are stored in conservation
quality boxes with a waterproof buckram covering, which are kept upright
on the shelf.
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