Sulfurized, Oxidized 3c 1851-57 Stamps. Is There A Safe Method To Refresh The Color?

Has anyone successfully removed oxidation from the 1851 issue?

Any suggestions?

Stampcrow, would there be a problem with a peroxide bath? If for some reason you do not want to give it a bath, leaving it in the 'fumes' for a while might be enough.

Peter

H2O2 works but I don't really agree that the color is guaranteed to go back to "normal", especially with stamps that are heavily sulfurized. Lightly sulfurized stamps will respond quite well. I have used fumes as well and that works well for covers.

OK, thanks. I will give Hydrogen Peroxide a shot.

Looking at what's in the cabinet, we have Hydrogen Peroxide Solution. It lists active ingredient as, Hydrogen Peroxide 3%. Is this acceptable for what I want to do?

Household 3% solution should work if the stamp can be dipped. I use Salon Care 20 volume with a Q tip on unused stamps with gum to minimize the amount of moisture that will come in contact with the face of the stamp. Salon Care 40 volume is also available, but I haven't used it. I assume the Salon Care number is the percentage of hydrogen peroxide, but the label is less than forthcoming.

Silly question but what is sulfurization? I would think a lesser % is a good starting point and work your way up from there. This way you don't fry the stamp.

I used to use 20% H2O2, and paint it on with a q-tip.

The key is to watch it carefully, and then have a q-tip covered with water ready to paint over to stop the reaction.

With the 20% stuff, it would be a matter of seconds or minutes.
I did that quite a few times with no problems, and each time I was careful to apply water generously and it always appeared to stop the reaction. I'm not aware of any issues with any of the stamps I did this with, over time.

The 3% stuff is what I and most others ordinarily use. A badly sulfurized stamp is done in two minutes or less.

I agree that the 3% is probably a better/safer solution.

Sulfurization is the process where sulfur compounds in the atmosphere such as sulfur dioxide react with the lead based pigments of orange/red stamps. The result is a dark-colored lead sulfide? layer covering the pigment.

As always...Thank you everyone!

Thanks for the explanation sinclair2010

I use standard household 3% hydrogen peroxide.

When I'm working with sulfuretted/oxidized stamps, I set three bowls in a row. The first bowl has the peroxide, and the other two bowls have lukewarm water. I soak the stamps in the peroxide for one to five minutes, depending on how sulfuretted they are. Then I rinse them in the water in the second bowl for a few minutes, then soak them in the water in the third bowl.

In this illustrated example (77-78L3 three rows), the stamps were much darker than they appear in the top image. The peroxide soak was about four minutes.

I don't think I've ever seen a case where the discoloration was completely removed.

The term is oxidation. Sulphurization/Sulfurization is the treatment of or impregnating of an object with sulfur. It has always been oxidation, oxidation is the descriptive and oxidation is the result of the reaction that occurs. Let us not reinvent the wheel.

Thanks for the clarification, rogdcam.

http://www.stampsmarter.com/learnin...idation.html
Don