My old way of storing stamps cost me a rare find from 1893

I used to just toss my stamp collection into a shoebox, thinking that was fine. But after I pulled out a creased 1893 Columbian Exposition issue last fall, I realized they were all getting damaged. Now I use those acid-free stock pages in a binder, which costs about $15 for a pack. I swap them out once a year to check for any new damage or fading. It took a bent corner on a $40 stamp to make me change my ways, honestly. Has anyone else lost a good piece to bad storage habits?

3 comments

3 Comments

harper_foster1mo ago

It's funny how we end up treating the stuff we actually care about the worst sometimes. There's something about assuming something is safe just because it's sitting there that makes us forget how fragile it really is. Got any other hobbies where you learned that lesson the hard way?

ryantorres1mo ago

Oh man, a shoebox brings back memories. Mine was a beat-up cigar box that I thought gave the stamps a "vintage vibe." Turns out the tobacco smell and a stray water ring from a coffee cup just gave them a "ruined vibe." I had a perfectly good 1914 Panama-Pacific issue that now looks like it swam there. Definitely learned that a fifteen-dollar binder is way cheaper than crying over a forty-dollar stamp.

grace_campbell1mo ago

Set a calendar reminder every six months to rotate your collection out of direct sunlight.