Musty Smelling Stamps

I was given a collection some in boxes some in albums. This person collected 50 years ago and these were either in the attic of closest, they smell musty. I do not see any mold on them. The paper in the albums has the worst smell the stamps have some. Included were some small starter albums of which I pulled some stamps, they were still on paper but taped(folded over piece) to the album - tape had turned brown and was bleeding through.) these did not smell too bad. My question is are these stamps worth saving? How do I get rid of the smell? Do I put with my other stamps? Just so you know I did not find anything worth a lot of money just common used US and some foreign still on paper. I did throw out one album, note said my first album, but the stamps were all glued in.

qaman...WELCOME TO THE FORUM BTW


Try this link..
https://goscf.com/t/42689&SearchTer...melly,stamps

I would remove the stamps and dispose of the album and pages. Try and get some air to the stamps - maybe lay them out on newspaper or something for a couple of days, until you're certain they are bone dry. If you find the stamps themselves are still carrying the odour, I'm not sure what more you can do. Used stamps could be soaked and dried again, but I'd be inclined to avoid mixing smelly ones with other stamps, as the smell is undoubtedly mold or some other organic infection, and it may spread.

If you can smell it, it's mold, whether you can see anything or not. If there is active mold on the stamps producing odor, the most effective way to kill it without harming the stamps is to surround them in plastic and freeze them for a few days. When you finally take them out let them come up to room temperature before opening the plastic shroud. Even though the mold is now dead, the mold residue and spores will still be on the stamps, and in some cases may be brushed off with a sable artists paintbrush or something small with soft bristles (NOT plastic). This is a standard non-chemical method for paper conservation. Google "mildew vs mold" for links to more details.

BTW if you have a nasal sensitivity to mold you will want to wear a mold resistant mask when handling these things even after the freezing. Freezing with kill the mycelium but the spores will get through. They will not activate however unless there is sufficient moisture present, so be sure to keep the stamps dry after treatment.

Thanks for the help, I will try the freezer fix to see what happens. I noticed the pages of the album were the worse it is a Harris Statesmen album. I will let you know how it goes. I do post as much as I look because the computer I normally use I cannot sign in on. I can only sign in at home, I am trying to get to the 50 posts area.

Also, unless the stamp is a quite valuable one (*very* unlikely) trying to remove the tape stains isn't worth the trouble. I was somewhat successful with toluene on some stamps several years ago, but they cataloged over $100 each and I spent nearly four weeks in the process.