Adventures In Soaking...

First I want to thank all of those who have advised me in the dreaded task of soaking a couple of thousand pages of world stamps...probably have done about a half a dozen or so.

Anyway, aside from making the time everyday, I for the most part really enjoy freeing the little beauties from the old hinges and old yellow paper and putting them into nice fresh acid free mounts.

When I say "hinges", I use the term loosely...here is a pix I snapped off after one of my soaking adventures!

Thought you all would get a kick out of seeing what has been coming off my stamps!




I'm guessing much of the collecting was done during the Great Depression and although I'm sure it's not very archival for the stamps,it's still kind of interesting to glimpse the collector's ingenuity in "make due" circumstances.

Been at it to.......



My latest batch drying.....

Ahh I love to look at the stamps drying! I soaked off about
650 today. 32 flags, rooster make up and 29 ducks. I use
black fibreglass window screen for drying. The stamps wont stick.

Good hint on the screen. I have not yet took the plunge into soaking stamps yet. I am a little unsure of myself.

AGST, actually that was a very good bunch of US stamps to soak. All but three appear to be from the "pre-sticker" era of US stamps, and probably floated off easily. Now I do find that those Tiffany Lamp ones and the new 20 cent Washington stamp are problematic. They can be removed from paper backing, but it usually requires some manual work that often takes a bit of the paper from the stamp with it. The good news is that they're relatively tough little buggers and can take some rough treatment. I've yet to discover an easy way to do the "sticker" stamps.

Somehow, soaking is a form of therapy or yoga for me. I find it relaxing and I enjoy it. Now, after I say this... I also have to mention that I SELDOM soak any US SELF ADHESIVE (P.M. General, if you're reading.. take a hint!).
Like Lorrlis, I soak some of the lots I win because of the yellow paper effect, the smell (as a reformed smoker, I can't deal with smoke), hinge remnants,etc. I also buy kiloware from time to time
as a pastime and as a cheap way of filling holes and acquiring trading material.

All that soaking and no Desert Magic drying books? AGST, that looks like one of the Micro-fiber towels from Sams Club ? Other question I have is why would one soak off a Tiffany Lamp Stamp ?

Stallzer, I have to admit you're right. Why have I been wasting those many long hours on a one penny stamp?

The self adhesive stamps are a problem, some more than others. With my limited experience I just leave them soaking longer..... the lamp stamps came off OK but there is a sailing ship stamp there that remains very sticky even after the stamp is dry. Might try soaking it some more or use alcohol of some kind. I seem to remember a thread mentioning that.

As for why bother with self adhesives in the first place..... well they were on an envelope with other stamps. I've noticed that most ebay stamp dealers tend to send out merchandise in envelopes with all sorts of stamps on them. This one had the Tiffany lamps and the mercury mission stamp on it. Because I am just getting back into collecting and starting a collection from scratch, I pretty much soak off anything at this stage. Unless I have already got a few copies and none of the new ones are in better condition than the ones I have.

I've had no problems with German self-adhesives. Why can't the USPS go the same route that Deutsche Post has?

AGST, one thing to remember. A used Stamp will always carry more value on cover.

Some work to be done here in the Netherlands as well...

Always avoid making statements using the word ALWAYS...

Do you think that 1¢ Tiffany Lamp is worth more on cover than off?

I could understand your sentiment if you were talking about classic-era stamps, but for the modern stuff, I don't agree.

KirkS

Don't think about the value of todays market on the 1 cent tiffany stamp, think about 50 years down the road when there hasn't been a PO for many years! I'll venture a bet the stamp will be worth a considerable amount more. There will be people collecting postmarks, figuring out if it was the correct postage or overpaid, etc, i.e., the same thing you (we) are doing with stamps of the 1940's and 1950's today. I agree that a stamp on a cover will ALWAYS be worth more than a stamp in a stock book.

Love the conversation. I've been a soaking today as well. The only thing that gets me is when you have a stamp that looks good on the piece of paper then you soak it off and find some large faults you didn't see at first.

I can't wait to get my next kiloware box or something close there to. Soaking is a stress reliever for me as well. When I soak I usually lay my stamps out on a towel face down so any gum residue doesn't stick, but thanks to Alanl now I am gonna be on the for something to make a frame out of for some window screen seeing as how I have a whole roll of fiberglass screen. Get that made and break out my big bowl and I will be set. Also on the Tiffany stamp, I feel that is a decision based on the collectors preferences. Imho if the cover is ratted out I will soak but if the cover is in decent to good shape I will leave it on cover.