Salvaging Stamps Suffering From Oily Hinge Syndrome

I was recently given a fairly large collection of older stamps. Many of the best ones had unfortunately been hinged with what appeared to have been very oily hinges:



I'm not an expert on the history of philately and I have no idea why such hinges would ever have been used, but the damage is apparent.

This is what one such stamp looks like from the front:



Too lovely to throw away, I think.

Does anyone know how it may be possible to fix stamps like this? I was thinking of soaking them in warm water with vinegar or something, but I don't think that that would be strong enough to do the job.

Does anyone know what needs to be done, if anything can be?

If they were mine I'd throw them in the garbage or better yet burn them in the fireplace.

It's cold here in Canada, need some heat.

Jimjamtwo

I am not sure if there is a lot that you can do once the hinges have started to 'weld' through the stamps.

Sorry to say, but they are damaged.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Looks like adhesive tape. I have never tried to clean these but have heard that a long alcohol soak followed by hydrogen peroxide soak and water rinse. Has anyone else heard of this cleaning? I do know that aalcohol can cause some inks to bleed and run. Might be worth a try on a couple to see if it works.

I started off by throwing them away, but after a while - especially when I found some early, high CV Italian stamps in this condition - I began to wonder if they could be salvaged.

Surely it's possible to disperse the oils somehow. Maybe I should wash them with soap - that might be a first in philately!

Russ, thanks for the suggestion!

I'd suggest Russ is correct,
sellotape almost for sure.

Try soft tissue and a warm iron

I keep all sorts of torn and damaged stamps
but those I think, would test my limit.

rod222, I picked the worst I could find to illustrate the problem. Most of them are about half as bad - which is many times bad enough.

The suggestion that the 'hinges' were made from sellotape doesn't surprise me - the fellow who gave them to me said he started his collection when he was growing up in the '30s. He was living on a country property miles from the nearest town - this is in Australia - and he would perhaps have decided to improvise his own hinges. What's more, it was the era of the Depression, so I doubt if his family would have had the money to spare for proper hinges, even if they were commercially available.

I had good luck soaking the famous StampVirgin collection in acetone.

Yes, sellotape hinges are not that rare at auction,
they go around, and around, and around......
Often found in beginners albums etc.

BeeSee how is your actone sold?
under what brand, container etc?
curious.

In the U.S. acetone is available at most paint suppliers and some building material stores. Be sure that it is chemically pure as much of it sold has oil-based contaminates that could cause a problem with the stamps. Some larger electronics supply outlets also sell it. Increasing regulation is causing drastic increases in cost.

Thanks Russ.

Thanks for the info, guys!

They are nice stamps but common and low value which makes them ideal for experimenting on.
When you do find a suitable substance you can then use it on the valuable ones.
Wouldn't Hydrogen Peroxide act as a bleach?
I would try a liquid that works well for removing self adhesives such as Fuelite.

also check the cosmetics section. nail polish remover is usually acetone, but you have to be careful, many nail polish removers add lanolin and other stuff. I've found that the cheapest nail polish remover from the discount stores are usually the best chance of getting the purest acetone.

I'm not sure how I'll go finding acetone in my area, so nail polish remover is probably the best place to start.

I remember a few months ago I tried obtaining lighter fluid to use to view watermarks. It turns out that these days you can only get lighter fluid in gas form (which I doubt would work!)

Now let's hope nail polish remover is still the same way it always used to be.