I've heard different things from different companies, but I can't see to find a clear answer about longevity and archival qualities of the fine art inkjet papers. Can you shed any light on this?

Welcome to the murky pond of inkjet print longevity ratings. For modern inkjet paper, archival is a set of ingredient/component standards, not a quoted ‘permanence’ rating. For a paper to be considered archival, it must be acid free and neutral pH. Some papers (generally cotton) are buffered, and all alpha cellulose papers are lignin-free. All our papers conform to this archival standard.

Regarding a permanence rating, we have not submitted any papers for ‘longevity testing’ for three main reasons:

1. There is no exact science behind longevity testing, no official or recognized standards (US or international) or testing methods. The main company offering this testing keeps all their methods secret, and there is no way to independently verify the results.

2. The tests are extremely expensive, and because Moab is a small company we would have to raise prices to compensate for the testing cost.

3. The two main testing ‘authorities’ often come to different longevity conclusions for the same paper and ink combinations.

What we do know that inkjet prints are expected to outlast traditional (wet) process color prints, and are much more tolerant of environmental variations than Cibachrome prints, which used to be the gold standard.