Where To Expertly Repair Stamp?

I am so sorry about your health and will keep you in my thoughts wishing for nothing but improvement from here on in.

Unfortunately we must be realistic. Divulging whether a stamp has been restored will always be up to the discretion of the owner - it's highly unlikely that this can ever be mandated.

Hans, I for one would like to take you up on your generous offer of repairing a space filler! How do I go about setting that up? You have my email.
Don East

Its ironic that this discussion has probably generated a lot of business for restorers. Prior to this discussion I was a little hesitant to restore some of my items. Now I feel a lot better informed and may actually pull the trigger in the future.

As for privacy. Under all circumstances, except those legislated by law (well some laws), I prefer private information not be collected without the owner's consent. If an owner is legally required or has the choice to opt into a registry to get repairs done then I'm all for that. Were I to use a restoration service I would certainly opt in, provided I could ensure my name and address and any other personal information were not attached.

Unfortunately, I don't believe any organization is capable of protecting my personal information, least of all some small Mom & Pop organization. I barely trust APS and Amos with my information.

Second, except for very rare items, few people if any would check such a registry. Those that would check already have the expertise to detect repairs. The folks that get fleeced the most would continue to get fleeced. I know that's pessimistic, but just pointing out that its probably not worth the effort.

Finally, restoration of the kind discussed by Hans and Anne Marie seem perfectly legitimate to me. Hopefully this discussion will lead to more general acceptance of restoration/repair in philately.

Don,

I'm sending an email to you with our address and phone numbers.
AM

Thanks Anne Marie!

Referring back to the images I posted earlier up thread, I personally feel that it's my responsibility to repair the O76 I showed. The damage will only get worse if nothing is done. There were 198 of those ever sold, who knows how many have survived and are there better centered copies? Most of the same applies to the O11s as well.

I will not say I know all that much about antiques, but in general restorations of DAMAGED objects that are done by professionals maintain and possibly enhance the value. Many restorations and cosmetic enhancements are undertaken by the owners themselves with unpredictable results and thus reduced value.

The stamp we have been discussing is damaged- so it's a different conversation that just saying "refinishing" or other form of cosmetic surface treatment.

Hi Don, (51studebaker) - please excuse our ignorance regarding your health issues as we just joined this forum a few days ago. We do sincerely wish you a speedy and complete recovery. We have enjoyed the lively banter and would truly enjoy many more years of the same. Get well soon!

Hans & Anne Marie

Hans...Don is a fighter..Don't you worry, he will be here for a long time (watching over my posts..haha)...We all wish him a speedy and healthy recovery.

Robert

Hans,

I have some covers where the edge has been torn and the stamp along with it. Can this be repaired and what price range would this be in?

Hi Jim,

We normally charge around 50USD to repair covers - depending on the severity of the problem, By that I mean small tears, foxing, cleaning and the like. If something only needs light cleaning for instance, the cost could be lower. In the case of this particular cover, we have to charge at least 100US and likely, you won't be pleased with the results.

There are numerous issues to take into consideration:
- the cover is over 150 years old - to match the paper is virtually impossible unless one had a library of old paper, (which we do not)
- the paper is not white, I seems as though it has a yellow tint - not caused by aging
- the right side is obviously missing altogether and we have no idea what was there. If we saw the back of the cover, we could determine its original size and figure out how much is lost

What we'd need to do:
- find and add paper that matches the original as closely as possible. One of the big problems being the possible formation of water rings when the original paper gets wet, which tends to happen. Almost without exception, when paper of this nature gets a drop of water on it, dark circles caused by acid contained within the paper form along the transition between the dry and wet areas of the paper; similar to when a pebble is thrown into a pond. This is a condition that is extremely difficult to control as one potentially ends up chasing this problem all over the cover.

- the paper needs to be tinted as closely as possible to the original - a very difficult task as containment of the tint to the affected area is extremely difficult

- assuming the had reasonable success with the above, the stamp would still need to be repaired. The best solution might be to find a 10 cent stamp as mounted on the cover, for which the perts and colour match the stamp on the cover as closely as possible
- we would then need to trim the sacrifice stamp and attach it to the stamp on the envelope by matching it as closely as possible.

Obviously, we are talking about very time consuming work so the amount I estimated would be just that, an estimate. Had the cover endured damage like tears and small and the like, repairs, although difficult would be substantially easier to accomplish. As I said, it might be possible for us to make things looks better for presentation purposes and it may look a lot better at first glance but there will be no hiding as to the work that was done.

Cheers,
Hans

Hans,

re.

" assuming the had reasonable success with the above, the stamp would still need to be repaired. The best solution might be to find a 10 cent stamp as mounted on the cover, for which the perts and colour match the stamp on the cover as closely as possible, we would then need to trim the sacrifice stamp and attach it to the stamp on the envelope ".

The word FAKE not REPAIR comes into mind,

Pagoda

Hi Pagoda,

This work would be no more than a museum replacing missing pieces of broken artifacts like perhaps a shattered vase that had a hole filled with clay. Although everyone can see the hole was "REPAIRED" with something other than the original material, most would probably agree that still is more impressive to see that 'FAKE" vase standing in one piece on a pedestal rather than the "original" pile of rubble in some obscure corner. At least that what comes to my mind.

Hans

Is there a difference/distinction between whether one wants to improve the appearance of a stamp in one's collection in order for it to look better versus whether one wants to improve the appearance of a stamp in order to sell it for more?

Only to the person requesting the repair. Once the repair has been done, unless it's described in each and every sale thereafter, all beta are off. The repair opens the door to fraud even without the intent from the original owner.

I might also take them up on their offer. I currently have no intention of selling my stamps, but I have one or two in questionable shape that would highly benefit from a repair. I'll just make sure to keep the paperwork for appropriate tracking.