Storing Collection

Tropical rainforest enchants the wild beauty of Malaysia, and foriegn tourists are always impressed by the tranquility and freshness of Malaysian forest. For stamp collectors, however, the tropical rainforest does not seem to be a good thing because the presence of tropical rainforest is always associated with high humidity. Stamp toning is one of the most headache problems for collectors, and high humidity seems to attribute to this problem. Therefore, collecting and keeping stamps in good condition is always a challenging task in Malaysia. The humidity in Malaysia ranges from 70 to 90% with average 84% throughout the year!

I have developed my own way of storing my stamps and covers. I reduce the humidity of the storing space with recylced silica gel. It costs RM50-60 for a kilogram of recycled silica gel. The silica gel is blue colour when it is in dry condition. It slowly changes to pink colour by absorbing moist from surrounding. When the silica gel turns pink, I will dry it in an oven (dedicate a small oven for drying silica gel only, and do not use this oven for cooking food). The pink colour will slowly turns blue again when the silica gel is being dried. Once in blue, the silica gel is readily to be used again.

silica gel in dry condition - blue colour
silica gel saturated with moist - pink colour

In Malaysia, if the blue silica gel is left on the table it will turn pink colour in just half a day. This indicates the high humidity in the surrounding atmosphere. It will be costly and tiring to keep on recycling silica gel frequently. Therefore, I put my collection in airtight plastic containers. These airtight plastic containers come in different sizes to cater different items (FDC, stockbook, envelop, stock card etc.). When the silica gel is put inside the plastic container, it only absorbs moist within the compartment of the plastic container, and this will prolong the saturation period. Therefore, the frequency of recycling silica gel could be reduced. One more good thing of keeping collection in airtight container is keep pest insects away from your precious collection.

airtight plastic containers come with different sizes

I have been using this method for more than ten years, and the collection seem to be well managed.