London 2012 Olympic Stamp Can't Be Soaked

Hello again, just a fast little message this time. I recently got some mail from the UK that came with a 2012 London Olympics stamp on it.

I cut the paper, and proceeded to soak the stamp. I dipped it in the water, and as soon as it went in, the ink started to just fall off. I took it out and had a look, and the stamp was totally blank except for the queen's head in the top corner.

I know the ink can run in some stamps, but I had no idea you could end up with a totally blank stamp from just 2 or 3 seconds of dipping.

You all probably already know this, I just thought it was an interesting experience to share.

Is this the result of soy-based inks or is this a new safety feature on UK stamps? One last question, was the water hot or cold?

@Hal I have no idea what the cause is. The water was slightly above room temperature, but not hot. It looked almost like the ink on the stamp was still wet, as it all came off instantly, almost like if it was drawn with chalk powder or something, because it just melted.

The ink run so fast, that I think you could probably destroy one just by touching it a little with a finger. Certainly keep it out of any humidity, in a nice dry safe place.

In order to meet their target of delivering the stamps to post offices by 12 noon on the day following the medal being won, the Royal Mail established a group of commercial printers at several locations around the country who could receive the digital image and produce the sheets of six stamps within the prescibed timescale and deliver them to nearby sale points. These were not regular stamp printers, and produced the stamps using equipment that has resulted in a significantly lower quality of product than would normally be allowed through quality control.
Another example of the Royal Mail exploiting the public and stamp collectors from the demand for Olympic souvenirs!

Everything can go, the Queen must stay.

I managed to get it off with no problems using the normal water process. This stamps is the small one with the 2012 in the fancy font right?

@168Bagua Yes, the little blue and red one, that looks like Lisa Simpson "doing something". I wonder if maybe one of these commercial printers they used that @Anglez mentioned, used some kind of inferior ink. Maybe some come off and some melt.

The small format ("Lisa Simpson") olympic stamps were printed by the regular security printers in counter sheets and booklets. These should soak off without problem. The gold medal issues as illustrated below are the ones I think JackBrown refers to.
Most of these were kept as souvenirs or used on commemorative covers..and many designs were sold out before christmas. Commercially used copies are likely to be scarce and in wiew of JackBrown's experience, would be best collected on cover or piece.

Nearly all UK self adhesives cannot be soaked in water. They can be removed using white fuel (Fuelite, Coleman fuel) or just trimmed on paper. This is usually because of the adhesive though not the ink.

You have inadvertently found a new revenue stream for ebay fraudsters