Need Some Advice On Wet Stamps...

I recently ordered a pack of 2000 Worldwide stamps and of course it arrived on the day I was out of town. The package didnt fit in my mailbox so it was left on my doorstep and of course it rained. Needless to say the majority look okay except for about 25% that did get stuck together. They are cancelled stamps. Some are curled as well. I was thinking of soaking them and then putting between 2 sheets of wax paper with some heavy books on top. Would do ya think?

if it were me ...

i would soak them again and lay them out flat, face down on a piece of while paper and let them dry over night (yes they will curl) then move them to a new piece of paper face down with wax paper (or half of a gallon size ziplock) on top then the books you are intending to press them with for a few days .. I recently had a similar issue and this worked quite well....

Thanks bearwithfish! I will definitely give that a try. After they are dry and flat, I plan on putting them into some Vario stock pages. They will be nice and safe in there.

good deal! as I said it worked well for me just be sure they dry over night other wise you can get quite a mess ... (i tried it was bad!)

No wax paper please! The wax will adhere to the stamps, giving them a greasy look. Best to dry on newspaper (at least 2-days old) or on plastic.

ahh see I did not know that.. thank you smauggie.. I always used plastic baggies but thought that wax would be ok also.... hmmmm

I like to dry the stamps face down on a folded paper towel, no chance of ink transfer at all.

After drying mostly (and curling sometimes) use some white paper or blank white backs of printed on paper to store the stamps in while being flattened. Just putting them between two pieces of white paper (one piece folded) and leave a corner sticking out, between the pages of a big phone book and put another book or two on top to keep flat will work OK also.

Some modern stamps like to still keep their glue even after soaking so that is why you may want to use the zip-loc bag. The plastic is hard for the new glues to stick to. Older stamps (before 1970's) the paper method is usually OK.

When soaking, you might want to use two bowls or trays of water, one to rinse the stamps in, or even try to carry the first bowl to a sink to dump the water (use a strainer in the drain!) and then run some more water over them and swish around gently and dump and then new water and take back to work area to remove the now cleaned stamps. Lots of stuff gets on stamps, dirt, glues, droppings, etc etc. Clean is better.

You don't have to use mild dish soap if you are having good luck with the water. keep it simple is best. If some stamps still have glue left, use slightly warmer water and add a bit of dish soap.

If any of your stamps are expensive (your choice) and you don't want to possibly damage them, then post a picture here on Stamp Community and ask about any extra precautions you should know about.

I find I have to learn the hard way and remember better with my mistakes.

I think highly of a good cotton cloth dish towel that is not fuzzy. Place the stamps on half and fold the other half over and put a long baking pan on it and let it dry over night. I have had very good success with this

The paper towel method suggested by Puzzler works for me as well. Washing your stamps after soaking them never hurts too.

I use a Desert Magic Drying book and it works great! I would recommend them to anyone washing stamps because it is very simple to use and the results are excellent!



http://www.amazon.com/Showgard-Dese...p/B002ERCPRI

Link to Amazon, but check with your local dealer because they would appreciate the business, and may be able to swing you a bit of a deal on buying several of them!

Have a Good One,

Skilo54

I have a Desert Magic book myself but when that fills up I go back to the paper towel.

I do like that dish towel and baking pan method, think I may try it. Simple is better. Depends on how many you're soaking off though I suppose.

I guess I consider myself spoiled, because the collection I inherited came with a unitrade drying book. I hope I'm not being rude by asking, but would the dish towel/baking pan method leave imprinted marks of the cloth on the stamps? A "T" for "Towel grill" if you will?

I always set mine face down on a bath towel. They still curl a little but they dry well and don't stick at all to the towel. - jeff

I suppose it also depends on the type of towel...sorry for the silly question. I could always just try it myself...

I use paper towle to pat dry the stams as goos as I can then place them on anothe paper towel to dry then they get placed in a large book to get flat again

I use a heavy piece of blotter paper or watercolor paper, which is pretty much the same thing but, then I put the whole thing into a huge native wild flowers identification book and then if necessary a few heavy books on top of that to prevent curling. Been working fabulously for me.