Expertise Needed: How To Lift A Stamp Off A Cover

I have a very expensive cover with a stamp with oxidized orange color that requires hydrogen peroxide treatment. How can I left the stamp off the cover without damage neither? After the treatment, I will probably just hinge the stamp back over the space it occupied before.

Once you have done what you are planning to do nothing will be expensive anymore.

What's the stamp? That has some bearing on the answer.

Hi fotofila,

I agree with KGV, if the cover is valuable then the stamp should not be removed. You may not need to lift the stamp from the cover. It should be possible to gently apply the dilute hydrogen peroxide to the stamp surface with a cotton bud and then equally gently neutralise and swab away the hydrogen peroxide with another cotton bud soaked in water. The dangers are twofold. The cleaned stamp with brightened colour may well look inconsistent with the cover in its original state, and some stamp ink colours are non permanent and may run or fade. Test on something cheap. Or better still, leave it as it is.

Terry

11 covers are recorded. There is no off-cover stamp known, mint or used. They are all on cover.

I briefly tried on the right one only of a pair of the basic stamps that are identical to the one with the surcharge. I did it as described by Terry, with the Q-tips. As you can see, the right stamp is far better looking than the left one. But, the process did affect the cover around the stamps.

Hi fotofila,

Did some of the postmark wash away too? Don't over soak the cotton buds. Use less fluid and keep to the stamp areas. And a cotton bud lightly wetted with water and gently applied may well sponge away, or fade in, the staining on the cover around the stamps.

Terry

oooh...I don't think I would have done anything to these stamps as it is well known by collectors about the oxidation of the orange inks and it adds to the charm as well as shows it's age. Now you have a doctored cover that would bring into question it's authenticity. Less is truly more when it comes to this type of thing. Scan the whole cover once and lets see what happened?

Did the cancel get removed also?? If I was you I would just leave the other one well alone or, if you must- send it off to a professional that will officially document it and everything he/they have done.

Please leave your beautiful cover as it is!

The one you have worked on is...... the obvious cleaning stains around the stamps and also taking out the cancels is....

I_Love_Stamps quote is spot on!

Now that I've seen the cover, and the so-so results on the other cover (with 2 stamps), I definitely think you should leave it alone.

I agree with the advice above. Do not mess with the cover. Keep them intact and focus on mounting them inside quality mount to minimize further oxydation

I've explained this before in several threads. The peroxide treatment is NOT cleaning, it is ALTERING the stamp.

At the risk of sounding like I am encouraging this (which I don't):

-- NEVER swab; if you must do the peroxide treatment, "dab" don't "swab"

-- never allow the peroxide to get onto the cover part; the peroxide can also act as a "bleaching" agent, and since you are not soaking it in peroxide, gunk will get redeposited, markings on the cover will get slowly "washed" away.

The color changeling is cause by sulfur pollutants in the air. Protect the cover, or keep it in a clean air environment, and the problem will not get worse (or return).

I would leave your original cover alone. It looks fine, even if the stamp isn't "post office fresh" in appearance.

OK. Thanks. I've decided not to alter the cover. By the way, the cover with a pair that I experimented with is a cheap cover. These are the identical basic stamps as the Merida Provisional. For some reason, too many of this basic stamps are found oxidized. I guess eventually they will all be oxidized.