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Found a shop that sells Vallejo paints for half the price. My fear is that they are older than dirt. Question is, do paints have an expiration date? (Unopened & properly stored)

I've never seen a exp. date on paints before, I would assume if they did go bad they would have to have one on them. If they are unopened, I would think they would still be good, since its leaving them out and open that would dry them out, but not 100% sure.

I guess if they are that good a price, just whatever ones you are looking at, shake them before you buy, make sure they are still liquid inside and not dried out.

I’m still using paints that are pushing 30 years old. Nothing intrinsically wrong with age. If you get a good seal to keep them, they can last.

Shaking them and making sure they are still good seems like a plan. Not sure if you can see through the bottles, but some pigment might have settled out.

@DarkKnights44 Thought so as well (that there isn't an expiration date) but wasn't sure.

@Nevelon oh whow, 30 years? That sounds really awesome, good to hear. You must have some really nice paints that are not being produced any more.

I have no option to check/shake the paints because here in Sweden, we only have handfull shops in the entire country that sells Vallejo paints, and none in my city (5th largest in country).

So I will have to order them online. But after reading your comments I don't worry any more. Thanks!

GW paints are more of a risk. Vallejo less so. Have had few bad bottles but feel like production failure in that bottle rather than age. With that price even if there's few screwed ones you are good to go.

I just recovered some of my old paint that are at least 8-9 years old. All the inks were PERFECT still and several of thenpaints were just a tad thicker. The ones that were too thick but still "wet" were simply restored with a little water and a few metal tabs from old metal blisters, "chopped up" with a metal stick, and shaken vigorously. They all recovered perfectly, the ones that were just thickened were recovered perfectly by simply adding a little water and a good shaking. Water based acrylics just need to be rehydrated properly but there definitely is a point of no return that some can reach.

I still use GW paints I bought in the 80's.