Stamps, Hinges, & Spit

Maybe not the best of subject lines but as I've sat here, all day, hinging stamps I was thinking about how careful we are anymore on the type of paper we mount stamps on. Acid free and all. As I was licking those hinges I started thinking about the enzymes and such that are found in saliva. I wondered "Over time, would those enzymes and other chemicals found in saliva harm stamps?" I don't think that I have ever read anything on this idea. As I've looked at old stamps and the hinges that are on them I don't see any evidence on the face of the stamp of any damage. So, I thought that I would throw this question up here and see what happened.

Now, back to spitting on hinges.

I think I would err on the side of caution and use q-tips and a damp sponge if I were to use hinges.

I wouldn't worry much about it. We don't have the enzymes in our saliva needed to break down the cellulose fibers of the paper. Furthermore, after drying, the proteins (including the enzymes) in our saliva become denatured and inactive.

I know the 'information sites' I've seen all say to use a q-tip and water. But I'm an old fashioned spit man! I hinge stamp the way my ancestors did!
Recently my daughter watched me lick a mount to put in the album and I got a resounding 'Ewwwwwwww!" Kids! What do they know.

I would say it would depend on what you were doing before you started licking hinges I too use q tips/cotton buds here in NZ made by J&J & warm water Dip then stick,dip then stick.........

A wet sponge and my pinkie tip is what I use. I have also caught myself (while soaking stamps) wondering who has liked the stamps and what if anything did they have when they licked them. It can be a very interesting yet disgusting time of thought....LOL

The fact that we stamp collectors soak stamps off of paper, get our hands in the spit bath, as they say, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. That is why there are so many older coots (like myself) still here. I am sure I have built up an immunity to nearly every form of human virus there is (of course the Spam hasn't hurt either).:-)

My ol' Dad used to say "You gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die". I'm sure all the 'spit water' amounts to one heck of a peck!

i am glad I grew up before people started spraying doorknob handles and whatever...we got sick, built up immunities and moved on..nowadays the baby doctors are driving Ferraris..at least in the Rhinebeck area !! Oh, or is the topic about the health of the stamp ??

I have hinged thousands of stamps using my good ol tongue. They seem fine to me. I make sure I brush my teeth before I start and drink only the finest tap water while hinging

Dianne

Truth be told, I think I am actually too lazy to find a Q-tip and get a container of water. Everyone I've ever known that collects stamps (well, OK, the two people I have known)always licked the hinges. And, I'm careful *not* to lick the stamp, just the hinge. I, too, have wondered about what traffic the stamp has seen. As I've pondered this these last two days I'm not sure that anyone back in the golden age of stamping (if there ever was one - and if there was what years would you say that covered??) ever moistened those hinges with anything other than licking it.

I like to stomp my stamps and then really lick them a lot and then hope some silly monkey in the future will find it all preserved in some tree sap. Heh heh.

"Some silly monkey..." might. Maybe we will be revived or, What else? Some spit polio? Old flu plague?
Anyway, I like this thread. That is crazy I guess. It makes me think of a si-fi novel.
There is something appealing aesthetically to a hinged stamp. I like looking at a stamp without the plastic.

It is an entirely new spin on getting certs, verification via DNA…"this stamp was mounted by FDR".
Don

'
Brings an entirely new meaning to "The Gross Gallery".

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who noticed that those are mostly MNH)

Extracting DNA from stamps - albeit from mail, rather than from collections - is a thriving business. It failed in this case

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/...nd-disappear