The image below is of a small piece cut from a plastic stamp mount.
After the plastic stamp mount was exposed to light, does it still look "supersafe" to you?
We exposed this and some other plastic stamp mount products for stamp albums to light to see how safe they really are.
1. Small pieces were cut from 12 different plastic philatelic/currency storage and display products (the manufactureer and/or model of each plastic currency or stamp holder is noted on the image below) .
2. A light mask was placed over the cut plastic mounts
.
3. The plastic stamp and currency mount products underneath were exposed to direct sunlight over about 1 month.( 5/9/07 to 6/15/07)
THE RESULTS
on eachcurrency and philatelic plastic mount below to view the effect that exposure to sunlight had on it
(the right image below shows the products with their black backing materials removed)
Quiz 1: Which of the plastic stamp holder products for stamp albums above should you think twice before using?
Hint - the stamp and currency mount products are marked in red below.
Leuchtturm Lighthouse Vario
Supersafe Archival Polyester Currency Holder
Lindner-T Blank System
Stamp holders used by NY stamp auction firm
Lindner Fazlos Album Page
Hagner Stock Sheet
GK DS 06 dealer stock book
Showgard SuperSafe Stock Sheets
Showgard Group WSE-3
Supersafe Museum Grade Currency Holder
GK Starsheet
GK Block File
Although the visibly discolored plastic stamp and currency products above have the potential to damage any stamps/currency they might be used with, it is possible that the other currency and stamp holder products shown may be also capable of causing philatelic damage (for example: via non-visible chemical degradation or other decomposition that only a more formal experiment could detect).
Even though the test above was not conducted under laboratory conditions, the results should give you pause to consider the implications of using plastic products for long term storage and display of your stamps.
A blue wool card was used to quantify the cumulative exposure that occurred during the 1 month of exposure to direct outdoor sunlight. Fading of the 4th blue wool strip indicates that the plastic stamp mounts experienced about 10 Megalux hours of light exposure; this is the amount of indoor light your stamps could be subjected to over 2 years or less!
For more information about harmful plastic and paper stamp album products, visit or return to: www.stampsrart.com
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