I have a little pile of stamps from the British colonies, mostly pre-1910, and most of them could use a little soak to clean up a bit. However, are the British colonies stamps from this era prone to running colors? Would hate to ruin the stamps with a soak.
Water, especially Hot water can have very negative and drastic effects on some stamps. Here are some images to illustrate the danger associated with washing early British & B.Commonwealth stamps:
You can see that the central vignette is faded and not nearly as crisp as it should be, a result of removing from paper. Don't do it IMHO.
As far as colours are concerned, be particularly wary of greens and purples/violets printed by De La Rue. They were justly proud of their doubly fugitive inks in those colours.
Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Stamp Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Stamp Community Family - All rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Stamp Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited. Privacy Policy / Terms of UseAdvertise Here
Posted 10/12/2011 3:33 pm
