I just stumbled upon this:

NEW OR OLD COMB.  In France the opinion has been held by many that, between 4 and 6 years, the combs are too old to be of any use to the bees, as the cells are by that time too small, on account of the successive generations of bees hatching in them, and because they “darken the honey.” This last opinion is due to the dark sealings. Every one knows that bees will seal their honey very near the color of the comb; and here the races give different color to the sealings of honey. I have frames and combs that have been in use ever since I began bee-keeping; and when we first started we bought jar hives which had been used many years, so I know that twenty-year-old comb is very good, and I would not call it old; nor am I now discarding any. — P. J. BALDENSPERGER, in Nov. 1, 1895. Gleanings in Bee Culture

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