France Old Cover.

France cover unable to see the year although the description in scott points to 1853-60 but not sure. Would this be rendered as valueless due to the damage at the bottom of the stamp? Would there be anyway to clean this cover? Thanks and all inputs and feed backs appreciated.

The small stamp damage is a minor factor if the big "30" is something valuable; I've never seen that before.

The only cleaning I ever do is to erase any pencil marks, catalog numbers, and/or notations that some moron has put on the cover in years past. You need an "art gum" eraser, and don't scrub back and forth, start at the mark and lightly slide the eraser toward the edge of the envelope. Don't make a big clean spot, focus on the marks.