To Reglue Or Not To Reglue.. That Is The Question.

I have a very nice cover, a plate block of CE2 the 1936 Airmail Special delivery on a First day cover..
Alas, the plate block has floated loose off the envelope..
Is it legit to glue it back on?
If so, what kind of glue? I have some nice clear tube of paper glue from office depot.. water soluble and such.. would that work?

Should I just hinge the heck out of it?

My personal opinion:
Of course re:attach.
Covers in excess of $50,000 that are professionally cleaned have the
stamps removed and re-attached.
The ideology is that you are preserving history, you are not doing it
to fool someone into paying more.
The same with your rust spot, not removing it because you consider it tampering
is folly, the blessed thing will certainly die if you do not.

How you re-attach is the moot point, I would not use anything but gum arabic
certainly not any other local glue.

I have been thinking more about the rust spot
any preferred methods of removing it?

I will look for gum arabic

i saw this recipe...
1 package of plain gelatin
1/2 teaspoon of corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract
1 tablespoon cold water
3 tablespoons boiling water
small brush

this was to regum a stamp....

for gum arabic.. how about this?

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/...oogle%20Base

First I thought I was on the wrong forum.
But no...

Took a small break from scanning stamps and scanned in grandma's cookbook from 1901...
Didn't find any glue "receipts"

Who knows what else I'll find in this treasure trove.

Hmmm, I expected far more replies than you received.

I would forget the recipe.
The gum arabic pot looks great, worth following.

Place the cover and the rust spot stamp
into a cover and take to your nearest stamp dealer,
If he is cool, you can show him and suggest what
you intend to do, and get his opinion.
You will have also made a friend, Dealers are worth knowing
and can be great for advice.

I would be putting just a faint dab of gum arabic
on the block and re attach and place in a archival pocket.
I wouldn't suggest anything more than is needed to
just have it in its place.

With the rust spot, I'd be chasing up advice on preservation
on the web, it really only needs that faintest dab with
a cotton bud, of an arresting solution, and a further dab
to neutralise, that way you don't disturb anything.

If the dealer suggests you leave it alone, then do so.

The trick with giving such advice is what I would do
and what you do may vary in execution, depending
on the skill and materials available, but a good forum
should always explore differing opinions, what you then
choose to do, is hopefully informed.
If in doubt, leave alone.

As for the argument against,
there happened to be a commentary on caring of
stamps in the tropics, alongside an article
I used in my last post.

Their advice was not to repair,
"In stamps with fugitive colours or mint stamps
one was laible to do more damage than good-the remedy proving worse than the disease."

So there you have it,
I went kicking tyres on the web,
and things just got worse.

http://www.stampsrart.com/resources...atelics.html

They even recommend against using acid free and archival papers!

WOW! I don't know about the receipe for the glue, but take out the gelatin and maybe the corn syrup and add a little brandy or rum and you'd have a nice hot toddy to sip while playing with the stamps! The brush? Well, maybe for a tickle or two....lol
Donna

what would life be like, without the scallywags.

I have one, expensive (just into four figures) cover, formerly in the collection of a very prominent collector. It has a pair (of Barwani SG 35aB) which a previous owner had lifted off the cover and reattached.



They are attached with a stamp hinge, the result looks quite neat and tidy, and I'm content with that. I won't be going anywhere near it with glue, of any shape manner of form.

A Creative scallywag!