Acetone And Scotch Tape

I read with interest (and a little hope) the thread about using acetone to remove old scotch tape adhesive and stains. I have some old US stamps (nos 7, 13 and 17 I believe) with unfortunate tape stains. I tried Ronsonol with a little success. I may try acetone but am aware how potent it is. Can anyone tell me anything about the durability of the inks in these older US stamps? Most of the stamps also have pen cancels (Xs) and I wonder also about whether acetone will attack those?

Acetone will destroy them very quickly. It's used to remove paints and such, so you could imagine how long ink would hold up. I tried it years ago on all different types of stamps and even in small portions, it eats the ink, cancels etc. right up and bleeds heavily. Maybe someone has figured out a way to use it more effectively. Gary

To the best of my knowledge, tape stains will never come out. The tape itself will usually come off with lighter fluid, but the stains are permanent.

Me too

There has been some success with removing the tape stains... a couple of years ago there was a very long thread about this.
But it is hard..

Acetone definitely attacks the ink on older engraved US stamps. It would dissolve any adhesive residue, too, but not necessarily stains. From my limited experience with it, the tape stains are so resistant that if acetone did actually have any beneficial effect, it would have already damaged the stamp ink as well.

A collector could dilute the acetone (I'm thinking a combination of acetone and naphtha) but I suppose that would just slow down the process.

Acetone is dangerous. It passes easily through your skin and into your body.

Thanks for comments. I approached this problem with the same resignation some of you have expressed - not much hope. Then I read the thread referred to which has some remarkably successful-looking results (and a few caveats):

http://goscf.com/t/10035

So it got me thinking about trying it, but I don't want to risk further damaging old stamps that may retain some value even if tape-stained. So I am wondering if anyone has first-hand experience with acetone on old inks. All of the stamps are imperf, and two are pairs, so I could risk damaging the worst stamp of a pair, or are pairs worth way more than two singles?

My experience with acetone has been hit and miss. I've used it to remove or at least lighten pen or owners marks on older stamps, some of which were 19th century and the stamp ink was fine. You won't know though until you try.

Matt

Acetone didn't do well for me in removing the tape stains. The ink started to smeared. I don't use it anymore.

My experiment with the acetone was a dismal failure but I have not given up. I'd scan it except it tore in two.
Tom

For your information Walmart carries the large size (12 ounce) lighter fluid for $1.97. It surprised me how reasonable it was.
Tom

I was going to suggest Goo be gone, which is amazing for this very purpose, but the problem is that I believe it is oil based so it would permanently darken/stain the stamp the same way it would it you dropped some oil on a piece of paper. Maybe if you immediately soak it in dish detergent and warm water afterwards, but I can't imagine a stamp surviving that kind of abuse.

Picked up a bottle of 100% acetone today to give this a shot.

Here's my first test with before / after pics:




not perfect but a major improvement

thanks for the tips!

Would be interested to hear how you went about the process Mike, ie: Did you just soak the stamps in an open dish of acetone? While not perfect, it is a significant improvement on the before photos and would be much more pleasing to view in an album.

I soaked them in a glass bowl for about 3-4 minutes and then let them sit in a bath of water for about 15.

Here's another batch this morning.




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Mixed results with this set...