A Sad Sad Day... :(

Today, armed with my new assorted stamp mounts I was going to place my grandfathers Mint NBH stamps from his ancient stock book to mounts in my albums, I was very excited a monumental day for me...

....

At some point in the past 30 years those books were exposed to humidity while in storage, unfortunately those old stock books are 1/2 glassine and 1/2 cardboard, and most of them melted onto the cardboard backing..

so I'm a little down today, he, the family and I all tried to take care of those books, and in the end the tinyest moisture ruined the day.

That's very bad news Edwin.
Another bad rap for gum, it continues to bring heartache for collectors,
In the 1970's an exposition in India ended with a portion of priceless exhibits
ending up in little cigarette rolls.
It's nasty stuff, I have witness two stamps binding
just lying ontop of each other I was scanning on a hot day here in Perth.

I wash the majority of my stamps, and bad news like this
re affirms my decision.

I have some Rep of china stamps in promotional booklets here
which have been "stuck down" on purpose, (ie no hinges)
It's time for the sweat box,

Maybe that's what you could try?
Keep your chin up.

Edwin,

I'm sorry; I know how it feels.

I also had the good fortune to inherit to my grandfather's collection. Unfortunately it turned into a tale much like yours.

At some point moisture (not a lot) got to the albums and the gum from the stamps have generally adhered to the pages. He also placed a large number of stamps in glassine envelops. Unfortunately, some how moisture came their way and many many groups of stamps are now just clumped together.

It is all a lot of ruin. Some were recoverable but much of the material isn't.

So, I have largely kept my grandfather's collection together and have sort to preserve it as best I might and to value it as a concrete memory of a wonderful person.

Try to look past this and I'm sure it will all be better than what you now think.

-Larry

1/3 of my early collection of mint stamps ended up this way, including a mint sheet of the US/Australian friendship stamp. A coil strip of 25 Canal Zone with a line got folded in half and welded that way. Still haven't tried to do anything about these.

I guess this is something most of us encounter during our collecting lives.
My lovely Laos collection did not like the Israel weather and most of the stamps now have discoloured gum. The gum used in those days in Asia was cheap and this didn't help.

Try to look forward Edwin, there is a great world of collecting to come.
And you can always take me up on the offer I made to you....only a consolation I know, but something nonetheless !

https://goscf.com/t/9062&whichpage=2

Londonbus1....ready to pack

Thanks guys, sorry to hear about your losses, but I'm happy to know vertran stampers and their vast knowledge also have problems that I am not alone responsible for the loss.

I'm doing what I can, I declared the book they are in a loss and cutting it up to float off what I can save. win some, loose many, salvage few...

I lost many years ago - my entire plate block collection to moisture. I recommend you soak them off and collect / sell them as unused - no gum. They're still good to look at and there is no shame attached to buying and selling NG.

i agree with moonbird.. two stamps with gum stuck together are "worthless".... two stamps not stuck together are better even without gum..

remember you can always regum them later..

i ordered some Arabic gum for just this purpose..

Being I collect used only, gum is for chewing. The front of the stamp looks better anyway.I have a hard time identifying stamps from the back side.

Yeah, fate had it way with those stamps. I guess every stamp dies eventually. Just keep saving the ones you can:) Cheers.

Ed,

I've seen a few online references to a product called "stamp lift" which essentially is a mini-humidity chamber that is said to allow you to seperate stamps from paper while retaining some of the original gum.





I have no experience with the product but others on this forum may be able to comment as to its utility.

Here is a link to the supplier if you think you might want to give it a try before soaking your stockbooks.

http://www.meghrigsupplies.com/OTHE...UPPLIES.html

Steve

Hi! Edwin

Stamps that have more value than money are truly a great loss when damaged!

Living in the tropics has made me a used stamp collector.

I really like my stamps mint no gum in KGVs. They are extremely cheap at times!
Dressing up badly rusted mint stamps is something I look for to buy. They are generally the cheapest way to buy hard to get KGVs. Most of the time I am the only bidder.
Mint no gum are truly under rated. John