King George V Stamps - Soak Or Not?

I have small piles of stamps which I believe are SG351 (Scott 159) 1912 Royal Cipher 1/2d and SG420 1924 1 1/2d stamps, all showing King George V.

Most of them are attached to small squares of the original covers. The remaining cover bits don't add anything to the postmarks, so should I soak the stamps loose, or is it preferable to leave them as is? If I soak them, should I remove the gum well?

One of the stamps has little holes in it. I initially thought they were part of the cancel, but from what I learned on my Penny Red thread (thanks, scotzm), they might be perfinations punched by a private company.

Monnaie, I see no reason not to soak them as long as you do it careful. There are several good posts on soaking stamps on this forum, but my favorite way is cold water and as short as possible. Like maybe fifteen minutes - you will see some of the stamps letting go of the paper when it is time.
I do not understand your mention of gum - the gum on the stamps will dissolve in the water. Good luck!

Peter

Thanks, Peter.
Previously, I've been soaking stamps just long enough to remove the cover, e.g. just for a minute or two. Most or all of the gum is still on them when I take them out of the water. I've found that the really old stamps are difficult to flatten when there is gum residue, though.

Some english stamps actually loose color, becomming worthless, in ordinary water... so careful with those.
some stamp has to be soaked or the gum will ruin the stamp overtime... some german stamps have this issue.

some early stamps has a glue that does not dissolve entirely in water, and will be hard to dry/flatten.. this is true for the earliest of the danish stamps... this gum will soften, but not dissolve.. a careful fingernail can scrabe it off - mostly.

These stamps are safe to soak. Everyone has their own hints and tips - in my case, I would use warm water because I believe it loosens the gum faster, but also because the stamps are not only being detached from the paper, they're also having a bath and will come out looking fresher and cleaner. I believe warm water logically improves the cleansing process.

By the way, the little holes make the stamp a 'perfin' - when you get it off the paper, you will be able to see more clearly what the holes spell out - then someone on here will be able to tell you which company punched them.

The GB stamps to be wary of soaking are the Victorian and Edwardian surface-printed issues, where the colours can run - very obvious on the "Jubilee" series.

Thanks for the warning about the Jubilee series stamps, Geoff. I have some of those and will make a note not to soak them!