So It's A 3 Cent #65 ?

Here are the results from the peroxide bath. Much better, looks like a different stamp. but not sure what those brown blobs are. Could be some old caked on coffee ur something?
Thanks Russ
Before





After

Well... that certainly cleaned up a fair bit. Nice looking stamp that.

Sure did clean up quite a bit. How long did you soak it?

Looking good!

I found a little trick of sorts to clean up grimy stamps if they absolutely need it. I just use a little liquid soap and 1:10 Hydrogen Peroxide /warm water mixture. This does truly work miracles on those stubborn stains! Just know that peroxide has bleaching properties so you definitely wouldn't want to use it straight up for very long, although I have done this and only for a short dip and then into a freshwater rinse before the pressing book. Most inks are more resilient than the papers (there are many exceptions to that rule so just know what you have first), so basically you are trying to lighten up the paper and not the design. Just my 2¢

Looks like the mailer was using tobacco chaw when he put the stamp on the envelope.

Russ suggested 3 min at 1pt hydro to 4pts water for 3min then water bath for 10
turned out good, plus ther was a hing on the back that was stuck to a old album and I was afraid it wouldn't come off. But as soon as I got it wet it slipped right off.WHEW..

Still hoping,after the clean ;)

Keep in mind that there are more than a few collectors who consider chemical cleaning of stamps a form of alteration, and that doing so without documenting it as unethical. Not everybody shares that view, but it is not a insignificant number. There are also plenty of major dealers and experts who do it frequently. There are different "levels/degrees" of cleaning, which makes things more murky.

A major problem is that fraudulent sellers often use chemical cleaning in their methods of fakery, thereby causing problems for those who are trying to preserve items in their collection or are simply innocently making a few of the their stamps better in appearance.

Whether one considers it ethical or not, favorable or frowned upon, will always be a matter of personal opinion (that's my take).

It's pretty easy to forget having cleaned/altered some stamps. My point is, the problems occur when somewhere later down the line, someone gets accused of dishonestly selling altered stamps, even though there may not have been any attempt at fraud. So document any physical alterations you make to your stamps/collection. All it takes is for someone to spot one altered stamp and the buy offer for your entire collection can immediately drop 50% or even withdrawn. Most buyers will not sit there and examine every single stamp in the collection -- so once they spot a major problem stamp, the assumption will be that there are other problem stamps scattered in the collection.

Just my thoughts! Enjoy your stamps, they way you want to -- but don't be surprised later on. I still remember one collector who meticulously cleaned and repaired a large collection of mostly common US stamps. I admit I was a little dumbfounded at first and just kept my mouth shut and observed -- he loved every minute of it, had no plans on selling or giving it away later on -- just wanted to have fun.

Well I wouldn't want to ruin anything, or have anything be accused of being a fogery. From what you say I'd be afraid to soak stamps in tap water.

Many years ago I read an interesting article about cleaning and chemical alteration. The use of bleaches of color altering chemicals is both destructive and unethical (my opinion).

One thing that was mentioned was conservation and stabilization. Toning on stamps is often caused by an organic change that can cause the paper to become brittle and fracture. This article stated that the use of hydrogen peroxide was remove/minimize the effect of toning and organic embrittlement without altering the inks used on US stamps and was recommended as a form of conservation. This article also stated that hydrogen peroxide is helpful for mold and mildew spores.

I have talked to many, for the lack of a better term, experts about the use of hydrogen peroxide and received a mixed response.

Of course nobody is accusing you or anyone else here of forgery. 10-20 years down the line, many will not have the benefit of reading this thread and understanding what you were doing. So my point is, whenever you do deliberate chemical alteration (I don't know anybody who includes soaking in normal tap water in this category), I would advise documenting it. Enjoy your "experimenting", it's good to learn new things. My advice is that documenting what you have done is part of the "proper" procedure for cleaning. My opinion.

Sorry to have taken this thread off topic. I felt it was important to bring up proper documentation as an aspect of the proper procedure.

I'll shut up now...

k