What Stock Sheets to Use For a Stamp Collection

Quality

• The strips on stock sheets should have smooth, rounded edges. If the edges appear rough, they may damage your stamps as you slide them into the strip. Check the strip itself to make sure it adheres to the sheet; stamps will slip through a loose strip and fall through.
  Check the left margin of the stock sheet as well. Higher quality stock sheets will have multiple holes so they can be used with different types of binders.

Manila Stock

• Manila stock sheets are beige and feel like manila file folders. Manila stock sheets are inexpensive and the paper stock itself is durable. However, use of manila folders for long-term storage may result in the gum on the back of the stamps sticking to the paper. This is usually the result of humidity being trapped in the fibers of the stock sheets.
  Another distinct disadvantage of manila stock sheets is the strips are manila, so stamps are only partially visible. You are able to write on the manila strips, and so identify the stamps. However, you need to remove the stamps to see them in their entirety.

Black Back Stock

• Black stock sheets have clear strips that lie over the black paper. The black paper provides an aesthetically pleasing background for stamps while the clear strips allow for complete exposure of the stamps.
  Black back stock sheets do have their disadvantages. You cannot write on the sheets and they are more expensive than manila stock sheets.
  Some older black back stock sheets had strips made from polyvinyl chloride plastics, or PVC. This material is acidic and may destroy your stamps over time. Manufacturers no longer include PVC in the strips. Be advised, though, if you are tempted to use sheets found at thrift shops or garage sales; they may contain PVC.

Clear Stock

• Like the black back stock sheets, clear stock sheets allow for full view of the stamps. The primary advantage to clear plastic stock sheets is that you can see the backs of the stamps as well.
  For stamp collectors, the back of the stamps can be as important as the front. With clear stock sheets, you need not remove the stamp to ascertain the condition of the back.
  One of the disadvantages of the clear stock sheets is that overall display in a binder. With many sheets "stacked" in a binder, it may be difficult to focus on one sheet of stamps, because you can see the sheet of stamps behind it.