In general, philatelic watermark fluid will not harm the gum on stamps. There are only a handful of older stamps that should not be placed in watermark fluid, but those are rare exceptions and it is not a gum issue. So in other words, it's a good question, but don't worry about it.
Woohoo had to show my wife I occasionally can be grouped with great minds!! Kirk I will be using you for reference on my mensa application. I've only used ronsonol lighter fluid for watermarks and had no problems with fully gummed mint but not sure if I would be comfortable submersing completely in fluid. Find that a couple drops work fine on stamps I know have watermarks but have yet to discover an elusive stitch or bothwell mark on any canadian issues .
I posted this one last week trying to explain why watermark fluid or lighter fluid will not harm gum on mint stamps-- different thread so I thought I'd copy it and post here also:
Hello to all from a newbie to SC-- Don't know if anyone out there ever had to take Organic Chemistry- one of the least fun college courses I ever took-- but the main reason why lighter fluid and these other fluids won't hurt the gum on your stamps is because these fluids are non-polar substances, where water is polar.
From a definition I found on the web, to simplify, Polar molecules have a net (= overall) charge on them. On the other hand, nonpolar molecules have no net charge. Water is a polar substance.
Also, a small rule of thumb (mostly, but doesn't ALWAYS work) is that when you look at the correct structure of a molecule, if it has symmetry, then it's nonpolar (ie. hydrocarbons). Whereas nonsymmetric molecules are polar (ie. H20).
Polar substances will dissolve in other polar substances, but will not dissolve in non-polar substances. Best example I can think of is that you can't dissolve gum from the back of tape in water or alcohol. The gum from the back of tape is non-polar, and both water and alcohol are polar. You CAN dissolve gum from the back of tape in acetone (fingernail polish remover), which is non-polar.
So, if the gum from a stamp will dissolve in water (a polar substance), it won't dissolve in a non-polar substance (lighter fluid).
Didn't mean to get too technical, but these are the real reasons why it is safe to immerse a mint stamp with gum in watermark fluid, because of the polarity (or non-polarity).
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Posted 05/19/2011 11:09 am
