Stamps With Tape On The Back...help!

Someone gave me a lot of stamps back in the 80's. As I have been going through them I noticed that there is scotch tape on the backs of a lot of these. What do I do with them?? I would hate to throw them out. Some are mint, and only have the tape on the back. Does anyone have any ideas? Would greatly appreciate some input on this one.

rockin

Hello rockin.....

Stamps with tape are definitely no longer mint. The tape gum will eventually show a bad stain. If they are US, I'd use them as postage. If they are WW you might try to think of some sort of craft project.

You might have some luck removing the tape & gum with denatured alcohol.

Thanks nr-notrare. A craft project may be just the thing to do! Most of the stamps are ones I don't want anyways.

rockin

I have not had success trying to remove tape from stamps. I have tried a few thing that I probably should not have.

There was something on tape removal back in February.
Here's a link to the thread, but depending on the stamps
it might not be worth the trouble.

https://goscf.com/t/127&SearchTerms=tape

my time is not worth much, but it's certainly worth more than 20 cents!

I wonder if lighter fluid and matches would work? After all it would dispose of the stamp pretty quick since I end up destroying it anyways. BTW what is that chemical you were talking about?

Carbon tetrachloride, or carbon tet, is a volatile cleaning fluid of yesteryear,
common before safety became the issue it is today. It can cause asphyxiation.

Toluene is used to make TNT (Trinitrotoluene). So I suppose that instead of
lighter fluid and matches one could just blow the stamps away.

Well I work around toxic things all day, I just spent 3 hours forking out the barn. Not to count all the chemicals use around the farm I suspect I'm exposed to more toxic chemicals than the average person.

Going into the silo can cause asphyxiation and that can be an everyday event in the winter when things get stuck.

In any event I take it that you can no longer obtain that then. I bet if I could find some old fashion Moxie it would do the trick.

Carbon tetrachloride can still be found. Best if you can find it locally since
I don't think it can be mailed and DOT restrictions now placed on so many things
can make having it sent by UPS, costly. Just check with companies selling chemicals and cleaning products in your yellow pages. I bought some about 20 years ago, but that was before a lot of the recent hazardous materials rules were placed on shipping such things.

Carbon tet is also carcinogenic. Back when I was in college, we used carbon tet very casually. When I began to teach chemistry, it wasn't long before it was practically banned from high school chemistry labs.
(same for benzene)

That doesn't bother me so much. I take a special shot for my asthma that drastically raises the chance for mens breast cancer. Without the shot I can't function so I doubt an experiment or two would hurt that much.

Now how did that come up twice with a edit? See below.

Just use it in a well-ventilated area and don't let it come in contact with your skin. Wear latex gloves if you have them.

Thanks Modern I will try it on a few nice stamps that I would like to save. I will use at my own risk out side before it gets to cold.