Paper issue - What is this?

I bought some boxes of paper a few months ago for a low price. The only issue I've found so far is with this one box, which is different from the rest:


I noticed the terrible loss of contrast at first, but I thought it was the developer; so I changed it. That didn't solve anything. Beyond the loss of contrast, I saw these mold-like black stains.


They are in different positions on every page. They're not visible under red light, and when I developed a blank page, they were not there. However, they still showed up with different negatives; and disappeared when I used the same negatives but a different paper. So, what are they? By the way, I tried rubbing them off, but they don't come off. The box of paper was sealed and had no evidence of damage.

Thanks!

Well for starters MG4 is at least 3 years possibly 4 years old now and depending on how it was stored will affect it's performance. Excess heat is a real killer for quality but I do not I understand what the black mold like stains are from.
When MG5 came on the scene I did a test to see what the contrast grades were like because there was a gap between some grades that made the changes somewhat hit or miss.
MG5 has a higher D max (depth of blacks) and also the contrast grades are more evenly spaced. Where before with MG4, I had to use Gd3 to get a decent print with a full range of tones and a good black, now with MG5 I sometime find Gd1.5 because G2 is a bit on the hard side.

While old paper does lose contrast, MGIV is not old enough to do this. I suspect it was stored in absolutely abysmal conditions, which lead to both mold and accelerated aging. You can try to use it creatively, if that's your thing, or just toss it out.

Rudeofus said:

While old paper does lose contrast, MGIV is not old enough to do this. I suspect it was stored in absolutely abysmal conditions, which lead to both mold and accelerated aging. You can try to use it creatively, if that's your thing, or just toss it out.

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Heat can ruin paper in as little as 1 year and considering the age it must be as it is MG4 this is a distinct possibility The original poster lives in France which can get pretty hot in the summer, the post also states the box was still sealed, so it can hardly be damp penetrating the plastic bag inner which are always factory heat sealed.

MGIV has actually been around long enough to suffer contrast loss - and gain age fog. And, in this instance, it looks like perhaps humidity messed with it. It's worth it to gamble on older paper, but sometimes it just doesn't work that well.

BMbikerider said:

the plastic bag inner which are always factory heat sealed.

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The inner bags of Ilford paper are folded and taped. They're not sealed.

You win some you lose some. Buying second hand paper is always a lottery, unopened boxes is usually better than open ones. I don't buy any open boxes now.
You may find the paper in the middle to be better, but you won't get any consistency.
If you like experimenting, you could use a #5 filter and selenium and bleach and see what you can come up with.

Or you could use the paper for test prints - the kind you do just to see what the photo looks like (I hate scanning).....

Or use it to print postcards and pretend the damages was done by the postal service....

Thanks for your replies!

I doubt the paper was stored in abysmal conditions given that I bought it from...a photrio member! Also, I bought six boxes total and the rest were fine.

I'm indeed going to use it for experimenting and/or photograms. Those test strips I posted were done with a 4.5 filter, so I don't know that I can get much more from it.

Don_ih said:

Or use it to print postcards and pretend the damages was done by the postal service....

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MG IV RC came on to the market in 1994.
Most of us have deteriorated somewhat since 1994 .
May we see the back of that label? In particular, whether it references Harman technology - 2005 on - or Ilford Imaging - pre-2005.

MattKing said:

MG IV RC came on to the market in 1994.
Most of us have deteriorated somewhat since 1994 .
May we see the back of that label? In particular, whether it references Harman technology - 2005 on - or Ilford Imaging - pre-2005.

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Whatever happened to aging like wine?!
I'll have to wait until Monday to take a picture of the back because I don't have access to the darkroom until then.

Daniela said:

Whatever happened to aging like wine?!
I'll have to wait until Monday to take a picture of the back because I don't have access to the darkroom until then.

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Unfortunately some wines turn to vinegar. Some beautiful papers like Azo age beautifully.... relatively modern papers not so much....