Flea Market Find - The Good, Bad, And Ugly!

I'm new to the forum, and recently found a stamp collecting book that I 'believe' came from around 1960 or so. For $10 USD I thought even if nothing else, it's a neat book. I am only a VERY amateur stamp collector, but even I know not to put stamps in a book like this. As I flipped through the pages, I could tell that this person had used some very stamp-unfriendly double-sided tape to put the stamps in! Many are cancelled, but many nice condition ones have a very disgusting square brown stain on the top that seemed to soak through the stamp and the back of the page. Sad, because there are lots of stamps from the early 1900's from around the world (British Commonwealth, countries that no longer exist, etc.), and would not be of much interest (I would think) to many collectors. Also some Stock Transfers, Postage Due, Revenue stamps, and even two Ohio Department of Liquor Control stamps. Any thoughts as to whether these are to any degree salvageable? Not looking to make a mint from them (no pun intended), but would like to get rid of a few.

You'll struggle to sell any stamp with damage from sticky tape and I don't believe there's any way of reversing it. No-one would want them unless they are very rare, and that's unlikely because very rare stamps are very rare. If you are interested on a personal level, you can look them up in a catalogue, maybe soak the better ones and re-mount them into a new album. Damage like this will mean no commercial value though.

I'm familar with the ugly brown stains you are referring to as I see them occasionally on on stamps in various collections or bulk lots that I might buy. I almost invariably put them in the garbage. It would have to be a pretty expensive stamp for me to keep it, and even then it would just be as a space filler until something better comes along. Some collectors are very picky on stamp quality, some not as picky, but nearly all collectors would disdain stamps with the types of stains you are talking about. Any monetary value would be a minuscule % of catalog value to nothing at all.

As the others have said, it sounds like the stamps are damaged beyond the point of return. However, it wouldn't hurt to post a few pictures of your find!

Brian

I thought as much - thanks very much for the input. As I went through the album I couldn't help but feel sort of sad that these fine stamps, even though they are used, were handled this way. On an up side, there were packets of stamps inside that did not suffer that fate, along with a couple of Wheaties coin folders filled with international coins!-) I'll get some pictures tonight and post tomorrow. One question I will have is regarding a 3cent Washington stamp from ~1861-62, from what I can gather from this website http://values.hobbizine.com/stamps/us-1861-69.html is grilled, but I can't quite tell the exact color, or what the Scott# is. Hopefully I can scour your expertise to solve this one.

Your description of that last stamp sounds like a Scott #65 (or some other variance based on having a grill) issued in 1861 and was in use for many years. There are numerous colors ranging from Pink to Rose - most of which I can't tell apart - but the students of this issue can tell you exactly which one you have. Again, we always welcome good photos and especially new members. Welcome to SCF!

Brian

Do you mean the stamps are mounted with "hinges"? (similar to double sided tape)
If so, you have to use specific methods to remove the hinges, assuming
that is even what you want to do. Put some thought into it before making any
moves. Some pics would be great... Welcome to the hobby.

Break out the lighter fluid!!

(helps with tape)

It doesn't sound like it, but just in case there are stamps that you want to salvage, you might try a bit of Bestine to release the stamp from the double sided tape. Bestine is also used to removed modern self-adhesives from envelopes.

Although it can remove and fade the actual ink of the stamps, nail polish remover can sometimes do wonders with those brown tap stains.Kind of a last ditch effort before throwing them away...

Here's a couple before/after pics of some I've experimented with






you can see by the second group that some of the stamps faded considerably so use this as a last resort and be careful

Mike33 - yep, that's exactly what they look like - nice job on getting rid of those brown stains! They are not hinged, but taped in - no trouble getting them off - they tend to fall off on their own! How exactly do you do that - just soak them in the nail polish remover (with or without acetone)? Here are some of the pictures from the album - hope they are good enough!

timtke7771....
if the 3c Washington you show is the "grilled" item....
I see no evidence of the grill from the front.
Grills are much harder to see from the front.
Looks to be a common #65

Kevin504- I do believe you are right. Now that I've had a chance to get a closer look and compare the grilled vs. non-grilled, I can see that there is a difference. It's still taped in the book, so I haven't looked at the back, haven't gotten that brave yet!. Thanks for the info!

I was going through more of these stamps, and was wondering - was this method of putting stamps in this type of album the norm many years ago? Is seems like, from ArtfulHingers reply, that this is quite common, but surely they had to know that it wasn't good for the stamp. Didn't they.....?

We do see this from time-to-time, but tape has always been a no-no for stamp collectors. This collection likely belonged to a child who used whatever was available to place stamps in the album.

Brian