Pre-Soaking Organization?

Sometimes,when I get kiloware, I cull the damaged ones, prioritize what will be soaked and when as well as organize the stamps by countries. It goes faster, of course. However, other times when I get a lot I just prefer to pull them out of the bag and give them a "soaking at first sight". What do you guys do? I know it's bad but I don't soak the damaged stamps and I tend to shy away from UK Machins (I"m getting a nice 2 envelope accumulation of them now), and some of the other definitives like the US "Flag on the Porch" and the pink 3 cent Lincoln.

The one thing you MUST do is to separate out all the deep reddish-purple stamps (like the 4c Lincoln of 1954) or you run the risk of staining many stamps by physical contact while they are still in the soaking dish. I also use 3 changes of water, not extremely hot, but more than warm. The other thing you remove is stamps on red- and green- Christmas card envelope corners, as many of those paper colors will RUN, stain the water, and ruin ALL the stamps.

If you find a valuable stamp on a Christmas envelope corner, it can sometimes be salvaged. Soak all by itself in ice water with a little salt added. This "fixes" the color in the paper for a short time, but remove the stamp as quickly as possible, the instant it floats off, then soak the stamp is normal hottish water to remove the salt and the final traces of coloration.

Can't tell you what to do with self-stick U.S. - I generally throw them away, or put them in a box for the Scouts - then it's their problem, not mine, and I hope they are "prepared" for a long ordeal.

I avoid self adhesive stamps like the plague. I stopped my US collection at the year 2000 becuase of them. They're impossible to deal with. Some of the stamps on colored paper, I soak alone (single) in cold water. It takes longer but the risks of the colors running aren't as bad.

After my stamps are off the paper, I move them from the lukewarm water into another bowl of cold water. I let them sit for awhile, sometimes rinse off excess glue from the back of stamps sometimes. I only change the water once.

I've heard that soaking the red and green Xmas envelope stamps by placing them face down on the surface of the water, and not submerging the whole thing, is a good way to do this. Anybody have any experience?

I've been putting all my red and green papers aside for now, and waiting for a good time to tackle these.

I've used Ronson lighter fluid (its the only lighter fluid I can find here in Oman) to remove US self adhesives. It's a pain in the neck so, I don't do it very often.

For Spain_1850, try half a dozen by both methods, surface floating and ice water + salt. I predict you'll prefer the latter. I can't think why the surface floating wouldn't stain the stamp just as much.

Most of the US self adhesives I don't have much of a problem with. The ones I do have a problem with are the 29c eagle and shield and some of the flag over porch issues. But most of the time I can "persuade" the stamps loose from the paper. They don't just float off like the gummed stamps however. After soaking for a while I test one by trying to slide my tongs between the stamp and the paper. If it's ready I can just slide the tong blade to the other side of the stamp, releasing it, leaving the adhesive on the paper. It takes practice and I have had a few casualties along the way, but most eventually release.

I haven't tried the surface method yet, but I think the theory is that the water will soak through the stamp and you can release it before it penetrates the paper as well. I'll try the ice water and salt though.

What about "steaming" the stamps? I remember my grandmother would put the teapot on and when it started to boil, she'd hold an envelope over it to get the stamp off. I always preferred soaking. It seems to minimize damage to stamps but would "steaming" work for self adhesives?

Ajnabii -- I've been wondering that myself this week, but I haven't tried it yet. Let us know if you (or anyone) find time to test it.

I just started using lighter fluid (well ventilated!) on the modern US self-adhesives last week and have had good results. They slide off very easily and then you have to get the glue off the back. It's been working well for me provided I scrape the glue off with a straight edge first and then wipe down thoroughly with an inch square piece of paper towel. Rescued a $5.15 off a piece of thick cardboard yesterday. Yes!

There are several hydrocarbons (like heptane) that claim to remove sticky labels, etc. They are fairly expensive, and, EXTREMELY flammable if not actually explosive.

However, after the lighter fluid removes them from the envelope paper, those products might speed up the removal of excess adhesive; the amount required would be just a drop or two. Don't know, I still pitch them into a shoebox for the Scouts.

If the USPS ever wanted to discourage stamp collectors, this was the way. Do you know the hidden agenda? The USPS doesn't want you to collect USED stamps, so it ignores complaints about how difficult it is to remove self-adhesives. No problemo with mint stamps, the PMG would no doubt tell you.

All these chemicals being used to remove stamps, I don't know, it seems a bit overkill to me. Like I said above, I haven't had that much trouble with ordinary warm tap water. Just a modified way to actually pull them loose from the paper....and patience.

You must be very patient, as water has zero effect on most self-adhesives.

I am going to shame myself and admit to actually "boiling" a self adhesive to get it off the paper. Those "Big Machin" mailing label. It actually worked. That was an extreme situation, though. I already destroyed 2 others while using other (unsuccessful) methods.

A few days ago, I commented that you "must" remove certain red and purple stamps or they will stain the other stamps when you soak them.

Here's the result when you miss one, along with the offending item, a red Israeli express label:



The stains are much more vivid than the image shows.

I remove all those stamps on colored paper. I try to soak them in cold water. For some reason, I've noticed that the color doesn't run as bad with cold water. IIRC, another collector wrote about using isopropyl alcohol to soak the ones on colored paper. Has anyone had any luck with that?