How To Remove Scotch Tape Stains On Stamps

Hello everyone I'm knew here and I introduced myself in the "Introduce Yourself Here" Area.

As I said in my introduction I have received some old collection and one of them the collector rapped all the stamps in a plastic/cellophane of some kind and tapped the ends.

On some of the stamps the tape has stained the edge of the stamps and I am wondering, what is the best course of action in handling these stamps? Cleaning, a way of removal, or just leave them as they are?

I have attached an example of one of the stamps and you can see the staining in the very top left corner and the lower left side.



There are some beautiful stamps in the collection and I hate to lose some of them. Though none of them are extremely rare from what I can see.

Many years ago around 1954 or 55 I started a stamp collection and no one was around to show me how to do it. I didn't know about hinges, so I put my stamps in my album with scotch tape. Those stamps have long been trashed. If it's scotch tape or something like that, I'm sorry but nothing you can do will save them.

Benzene or lghter fluid will help you to remove the old tape. The stain will stay in the paper fibers.

Some here will disagree with me, but I would be inclined to say break the block and keep the 3 good singles.

Leaving as it is would be the worst option. You can have a good pair with selvedge plus a good single too.

I was thinking that as hard as it may be, for low value items you would be better biting the bullet and re-buying them.

Well! I'm Crying right now, because this is just one of several in the collection including some imperforated stamps nothing as I say is extremely rare but some very nice stamps that I myself have not seen before.

Thank you all for your comments and help. It is great to have a place to come and get help and chat with others that with a love of stamps.

As for splitting them I do not think I will. I already have the singles and I can split them at anytime if I like. I find I feel better to have a bad stamp fill a spot tell it can be replaced than to have no stamp at all so for now I will keep them together.

I may try some experiments on the very common stamps I already have replacements for, to see if I can come up with a way to remove the stain.

You can read through this older thread dealing with removing those Scotch tape stains with easily available chemicals like acetone.

https://goscf.com/t/10035

Ryan

Ryan,

Thanks for the redirect. I am encouraged by the results several came up with.
I am a little afraid of the straight acetone and what its affects may have on the inks.
I have a chemistry background and I work in the paint industry so with my connections I may be able to finds some solvents that will work. The only problem is I have never formulated Inks so it will be a new area for me to step into.
Thank you all, for the help you have given me. Keep your fingers crossed.

Who knows maybe my planes will turn upside down once I find the proper methods. Ha Ha Ha Ha

Hey, all. Here is an old study into this problem from the field of archive preservation: http://cool.conservation-us.org/coo...bp02-13.html

As it pretty clearly explains, acetone is a bad choice because it will drive the cellulose acetate into the paper. (In other words, that the yellow staining you get using nail-polish remover.) Instead, it suggests ethyl alcohol, (i.e., common rubbing alcohol). I am going to purchase a cheap cover on ebay this week that supposedly has tape on the back flap and test it. I will post before and after scans on here for everyone to see.

I new you would say you are knew!

Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry, but I don't know of any way to get the stains off without damaging the stamp. Hydrogen peroxide will clean it up a bit but the stains will still be visible. Since the stamps are not valuable, it's best to just replace them eventually.

I've tried a variety of solvents and don't know of any that will remove the Scotch tape stain from a stamp or cover. Let us know if you have any success.

Ryan to SCF. The stamps pictured have very little value. I have about ten of them. So experimenting won't hurt anything. Try using Hydrogen Peroxide. Of course you will probably lose the gum. or like someone else mentioned Ronson Lighter Fluid. Just use a Q-tip and dab a little on the edge and see what happens. Same with the Peroxide. Report back what the results are. NO SMOKING around the lighter fluid.

Ouch! You are in the USA, where ethyl alcohol is the stuff you drink, isopropyl alcohol is the stuff you rub.

Definitely try the vodka - one shot for the stamps, one shot for the stamper.

My own guess is that scotch tape residue - especially the sort that we grew-up with, decades ago - is in the paper for good, and ain't going nowhere.

I suggest laminating the plate blocks, and selling them on ebay as Vintage Luggage Tags, but that's me.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey