Yellow Stamp Is Supposed To Be White

I have a stamp that is an unusual color and I don't think it is rust, but it may be. Does anyone know what could have happened to this stamp (other than dipping it into tea or coffee)?

I vote for the tea or coffee!

The browning around the perf tips gives the indication that this is the result of staining, and nothing else. There are too many possibilities to list, but whatever it was, the stamp is no good.

Welcome to SCF!

Brian

I vote crystal mount.

That type of yellowing of a used stamp is very often caused by soaking a stamp off a manila (yellow) envelope where the color from the envelope can bleed into the stamp. The stamp is common so there's no need to try and doctor it, but sometimes cleaning the stamp in a dish of lukewarm water and perhaps a drop of dishwashing liquid could clean it up a bit, but still hardly worth the time and effort considering how many VF used copies are on the market.

It does have that bent up look from a crystal mount. Those mounts were philatelic shrinky-dinks.

Color changeling.


-IBFS

If the stamp is no longer any good, try soaking it in 3% hydrogen peroxide. It might clean up this way, and cannot hurt at this stage.

Being common & inexpensive, this does seem like a good candidate for a practice soak.

Here's a nice reference for archivists on treating stamps chemically, but he doesn't share his formulas. http://cool.conservation-us.org/coo...3_foxing.pdf

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing!

Hi, it could be from any of the above mentioned things (I think sunlight exposure). USA stamps are usually pretty consistent in color, so its almost certain it is the result of something after the printing.

I've bought up a number of old albums the last couple of years, and have found several examples of the same stamp type with color variations. Other than the usual suspects, I tend to believe that ink mixes were just not the same, printing to printing. This was likely more common on older stamps (pre 1940) from "less advantaged countries"..........

Do you continue to use the Wonder Color Gauge as a reliable reference?