Aging Ilford Gallerie

I was just given a bunch of boxes of 11X14 paper by a friend moving away. I tested it all and it was mostly all slightly age fogged. I can fix that with anti fog but the strange thing to me was the Ilford Gallerie G3 matt surface. It also had a slight greyness to it but the interesting thing is that it was very warm. The paper base is the same warm color as Ilford WT fiber. I varified that with side by side comparison. I have never used Gallerie and wasn't aware that it was so warm. Is this just a very old box from when paper was more natural color? Or is it so old the paper itself has yellowed. It was only a little grey in the whites. Aside from the matt surface which I hate, I really like the look of this paper. Is Gallerie on a warm paper base still? If it is I will invest in some.

I have quite a lot of glossy Ilford Galerie (not Gallerie) left over from 1991 which is still fine, unfogged and with a white base, slightly brighter than Agfa MCC. I suspect this to be either a idiosyncray of the matte paper of the time or o be just that: aging. If you are interested in a glossy paper with a slightly warm base and otherwise quite a bit like Galerie (in some ways not) you could try Fomatone mg.

best

Stefan

I used to use the original Galerie. If the Galerie you have is this version, then, yes, the matte base is noticeably warmer than the glossy. A new version of Galerie was introduced, sometime during the 90s I think, and I've heard it is a rather different paper. The original Galerie was a very beautiful paper, both the glossy surface (remarkably deep blacks) and the matte.

BTW, speaking of old paper, I recently started using a long lost box of the original Ilford Multigrade FB, purchased 1988. Despite 18 years of Tokyo summers, it still has excellent contrast and speed, and no obvious fogging. I nearly threw it out, assumed it would be no good.

In the old days Gallerie had a sort of yellow white compared to Seagull's blue white. A print on both showed the Gallerie as looking brighter. But Seagull had a cool elegance that just fit many subjects. I was just using some old Gallerie and it still is nice stuff.

increasing restrainer for fogged paper

In line with this thread, I have an old box of Ilford MGIV, the test prints showed little to moderate fog. Can i increase the restrainer in my print developer to counter this? the only restrainer I have is KBr btw.

Sometime in the last decade, a chemical was added to the paper emulsions so that they did not have to be aged before sale. i works fine except now the papers have a very shart shelf life, 2/3 years, and I lford will not put a consumer readable expiration date on the pack.

That explains why I have some 1969 expired paper that is almost ok and other stuff that is fogged and grey although it is 3 years old.