Mint Stamps Stuck Together

If you have mint stamps that are stuck together. Here is a sure way to salvage most if not all without damaging the stamps including the glue. Everybody that works with stamps. Collectors in general are going to run across this problem sometime. Here is a sure solution to the problem. Copy and paste this onto a file you will be able to keep for reference down the road some day. Trust me this works!

Put them in the deep freezer. Leave them in there about 20 minuets. Then with your fingers. NO TOOLS! Gently start breaking them apart. Do this before soaking them. You will be able to salvage all the mint with gum, without damaging the gum, too much. The dirty ones will have to be soaked/washed to clean and you will lose the gum and they will simply will become a unused stamp. Not mint value but not used value either. You can even use a stick glue and use the ones where the gum is washed off of them for postage. BELIEVE ME THIS WORKS!

i'm willing to try this, I lost a lot of stamps from a box lot because they were stuck together

When I have a tip like this that I don't want to lose, I create a thread here on SCF so I know it will always be available for me to search

And then there are EXTREME cases:



I soaked this sticky BRICK (bought from Australia) about a dozen times, each time 6 or 8 layers of stamps finally peeled off. Overnights, I had to keep it in the fridge so it wouldn't get moldy.

Looks familiar. Too bad you didn't try the freezer trick first. You could have kept the mint in tack with the gum still on them. Don't forget to freeze them first next time. Soaking is always the last resort.

It was all discount postage. A century from now, it will still be discount postage. I ended up paying roughly 50% of face, and considering the amount of labor, it wasn't a very good speculation.

It might be worth making a stamp sweat box to release stuck together mint stamps.

Terry

tried freezer with 3 German stamps stuck together,that glue is tough,back in they go

The problem with the Freezer trick is that you risk facial thins. Truly the best way to separate stuck stamps is to soak.

Truly you can soak if you want to and have unused stamps or freeze if you want to and keep most if not all of the stamps mint.

"...the best way to separate stuck stamps is to soak." YES.

Even the Postmaster General would rather SOAK then stick his mug in a freezer.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Is that really the US Postmaster General? And, why are those stamps stuck to his face? Or is this computer enhanced picture?
I believe pictures and stories to be "true" unless someone tells me otherwise.
Anyway, the picture is a hoot!
Thanks, Doug2222 for sharing it with us.

Ok, so I had to give it a go and try the freezer thing again. I had about 5 stamps from Poland (1940's) stuck together. Placed them in a plastic baggie and into the freezer for a little over 3 hours. After 3 hours I removed them and with a very slight bend they popped free. Thanks Tinman :) I had a previous bad experience with trying the freezer thing with a New Zealand Stamp that was worth good money, until I got my hands on it.....

There's a related technique that's sometimes useful. Stamp tongs have a springy tendency to stay open, i.e., the tips apart; if you squeeze the tips together and insert them right at the leading edge of the "stuck" stamps, they will push the two stamps apart more precisely than you could ever accomplish with your fingers. Requires practice!

Your welcome. Next time you don't have to put them In anything. Just the freezer. I do try to keep them flat or fairly flat. Glad it worked for you. DOUG DON"T USE TONGS, You run a risk of damaging the stamps! Just keep it simple.