Is Cleaning Stamps Acceptable?

"Original dirt" !

I think what it pretty much boils down to is if you do anything to your stamps at least document it so you don't pass on a big headache or problems.

What it actually boils down to is;
Leave Well Alone.

To all collectors in England. I would love to have your cleaned, zero value, stamps. I'll pay the postage and give you a tip as well.

There are no collectors in England that clean stamps.

I kindly disagree. I talk to collectors from all over the globe and using warm water and maybe a little dab of dishsoap is perfectly acceptable. Plus if you've ever soaked a stamp off a cover then you technically cleaned a stamp as a by-product of the removal.

Dear I love stamps,
I kindly disagree with your disagreement......x
I never soak stamps off anything if I want them to remain valuble.
If you look in Gibbons, you will see that all prices improve by 25% if the stamp is 'on a piece'. This means not soaked off, cleaned, put in with the dishes etc etc.
After all hydrogen dioxide is a chemical right?

All in fun, you do what you want, with your own stamps.

For ungummed issues,,, e.g., the 1875 reprints... does anyone have suggestions for cleaning what appears to be discoloration from too many fingers. (Guess the former collectors didn't use tongs!)

With regards to used stamps, you can check out an earlier post which shows the before and after results and draw your own conclusions.

https://goscf.com/t/40403

I was impressed. The stamp remains as the "after photo" illustrates.

And this from the home of Antiques Roadshow where, in almost every episode, there is some owner of some collectible who is advised that filling a crack, replacing missing veneer, finding that 4th wheel, etc, will greatly improve the value of that piece at auction.

Coin/medal/etc & stamp/cover/etc collecting are the only collectibles fields (of which I am aware) that follow the rules of archaeology ... but, wait! ... even archaeologists will reassemble (GLUE!) a broken vase, scrape flesh residue off of bones, re-assemble a wall from a pile of rocks ...

Why dirt, mold, mildew, stains, etc, would become sacred at the moment that a stamp/cover/etc passes into our hands is beyond me.

The Sistine Chapel can be restored (RE-PAINTED), but mold on a stamp of the Sistine Chapel cannot be brushed, peroxide'd, or otherwise touched by human hands. Discuss.

And, while I'm ranting, how about this little disconnect:

When selecting an album for our little treasures, we insist on paper that is acid-free, archival-grade, museum-quality.

But when a stamp comes along pre-glued to a piece of paper that has been produced under unknown, unknowable, and often atrocious 19th Century paper-milling technology, we'd all rather soak the skin off of our bones than soak that stamp off of that cover.

What would George Carlin have made of that?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey, who cannot bear to remove a stamp from its vehicle.

Wow! You don't collect Motor Vehicle use stamps, do you?

I'm with "Ikey" on this one. Perfectly OK to clean used stamps in lukewarm water with a mild soap; to remove soiling, old hinges on back, etc. Absolutely OK. Desirable in fact. Far better than to let it in soiled/dirty/etc. condition.

The enjoyment of such an aforementioned cover is, of course, at the discretion of the viewer, possibly even the owner.

Old and hoary they may be but the oldness, even the intentions and intents of use, are the interest drawing points of such an item.

Who and what has used it, conveyed it, or had it under their own inspection even, are all interesting and valuable. Maybe not so to everyone, who have their own worthy opinions, but to the viewers of such documentary artifacts of the older times past gone.

Even Mark Twain would have hopefully enjoyed the hoariness of some covers available today, and perhaps even excused my own use of his language.

Used stamps have no or little value unless they are 125 or more years old so. IMO if you want to soak and clean them. What difference does it make. They aren't worth more than .20 anyway. Go ahead and clean them.