Older Indian States Stamps

Not sure where to post this - I posted in another thread but bc it relates to handling of stamps I was in the wrong thread..... ?? Anyhow, so I've started to work on India feudatory states.... I was wondering if its ok to soak the older ones w/o having to worry about ruining the print? I had sent a scan to a fellow at stampsinc.com and was told that the shimmer I had noticed in a cancel(the stamp w/ the arrows point to it), was the ink oxidizing thus causing a shimmer when under light. Im guessing if I soak it to remove the hinge I will ruin the shimmer? I have a lot to remove from old paper binder pages and would like to remove the hinges.... Tips / suggestions? Tks much!

Opinion.
If it is oxidation, then you should not worry about losing the "shimmer"
(not heard of that before)
However, personally, I think it a waste of time to soak all those fellows.

I would try very gently to remove one stamp from the page, to see what hinges have been used, if it resists, then you have sub standard hinge application, they need to be removed in another way.

This is the rub.
I only use long nosed pointy tweezers, one just slides one leg of the tweezer under the stamp, and severs the hinge at the crease.
You may not have that expertise, so soaking en mass appears your only solution.
hence you have a lot of work ahead of you.

If your desire is to remove the hinges for mounting in mounts, then OK
if however you are removing, just to re hinge, seems folly to me.

You perhaps may try other routes like "stamp lift" etc
I cannot comment on that.

Few stamps appear mint. I would try not to soak those unless they permanently stuck to the paper.

tks both for the advice. should I have to worry about any of the ink coming off also if I soak them? or other older Indian stamps. I seem to remember seeing somewhere to be an issue with older Indian stamps. cant remember where though.

same here - tks for the tip! not had occasion to do this yet - works good.

Not going there, can get one into trouble.
My mantra on soaking is cold water only, wait to see if any ink colours the water.
Avoid anything on coloured envelope pieces.
Avoid any stamp coloured purple, violet, lilac.
Avoid early Netherlands Indies
Avoid Revenues in the colours stated above.
Avoid Mint hinged stamps.

Only soak those that are important to you for mounting, everything else leave alone

got it. Disclaimer noted . All good tips - again.... tks!

What do you mean by "sub standard" if it resists removal? a properly applied hinge is one that is easy to remove? Just curious as I have from time to time tried to remove a just applied crooked hinge and they are hard to get off.... Tks

Hinges from many years ago were made differently. A hinge could be placed on a stamp and later peeled off the page or the stamp with ease. A mint stamp would have a hinge mark but nothing else. Hinges from the last 30-40? years are not so easy to remove and leave damage. So it is not a properly applied hinge but a poorly made hinge that causes the problem. All modern hinges are not as good as those from 40? years ago.

There is an art to hinging, the amount of moisture one applies, before attaching to the page, is crucial.
A collector new to the hobby, will stick the hinge on his/her tongue, completely dissolve the available gum, and hence weld the stamp to the page.
One of 2 results, the stamp lifts off leaving part of the stamp behind , a "thin"
or, part of the album page comes off with the hinge.

An experience hinger, is cognative of the viscosity of the mucilage, and merely makes the gum "tacky" by whatever means in his/her experience.
It is almost counter intuative, one feels the stamp is not going to fix, but it does, it will still grip the page, but after an hour or so, should be able to be lifted off with tweezers, with low resistance.

Modern German hinges will never be as good as the American Dennison, of course, but can still be useful, if used correctly.
Don't blame the hinge, blame lack of experience, or laziness.

You have no need to believe me, just prove it to yourself, take 2 stamps you no longer want, cheap duplicates, affix one stamp via your tongue, the other, lick the tip of your finger, then just "dab" it lightly on the hinge so you can feel it "tacky" not wet.
Leave for a couple of hours, then remove the hinges...see for yourself.

tks again. many are coming off easily. some not. and many have already been hinged more than once.

i may soak them.

guessing one main reason not to soak non-perfect stamps is the amount of work to do so? Right? Guessing also the chance you mentioned earlier - more chance to damage the stamp.

Yes, both, every time you handle a stamp, you degrade it somewhat,
this may not be of interest to some, they just "bin" or throw away those that do not meet their standards.

Treat your hobby, with care and respect, there can be interest in the most damaged or mundane examples, doing so will engender self respect, and pride in your pastime.

well said. I've damaged 3 out of 4 sheets somewhat mostly filled. kept 1 and threw 2 away as much as I hated to but they were torn. still thinking I may pull them out to stick them under the glass to just check out. I also know I have many duplicates which ill save to bring to the club or do a give away. also, I had 1 stamp with 3 or 4 crumbled hinges under it. makes me wonder what the heck?

here's the front and back of one. interesting to me as I've never seen a marking before like this on the back.... sure its not a rarity, but new to me

Ah! Charkhari...lots of hijinx with these.

I recall our Indian specialist Tony Mac, addressing these.
Yours is possibly a "set off" search this forum or "Stampsmarter" for that
Not my image

will do . tks. have to take a break - the dog wants dinner! :)