Scott US 114 Lifted From Old Album

I am taking a break from my shoebox to look at an album that was just given to me (an astounding gift, I must say.) I am experimenting with lifting stamps from the album, I have attached scans and photos of the results. The album is old, and the stamps are glued rather than hinged. After doing some research, I followed a suggestion to just soak the page, wait for the stamp to float off, then carefully use paper towels to blot the stamp and allow it to dry. The original collector seems to have used a dab of glue in each corner. After scanning the stamp, I experimented with iphone photography to try and get a better image of the grid. I included a photo of the iphone as it was set up to take the photo of the grid. Any comments would be welcome, as always.

I have to say, your setup of how you photographed the stamp is almost more interesting than the stamp itself.

Given that the stamps were somehow glued down, then soaking them off is/was pretty much your only hope there. It sounds like you mostly did it right - and since the stamp appears largely flat, I assume that you dried it in a press of some sort to keep it from curling.

Yes, that's a piece of art - Man Ray's "Stamp in Search of a Philatelist", perhaps.

@GEOFFHA, What part of UK do you live in?

I was stationed in UK many years ago.

By the way, if I could over a suggestion, obtain a cheap fly tiers vice to securely hold your tongs in the proper position.

Cheers

Stampmaster

Thank you for your comments! I found a new use of my dashboard cell phone mount here...I used the 3 second shutter delay to avoid a giggle when I pressed the volume button to snap the pic. As far as drying the stamp - - I was concerned about residual glue causing it to adhere while being pressed, so I just kept blotting and blotting and blotting some more with paper towels. It is not perfectly flat, but not awful for my first try. I will try to press the next stamp I lift and see how that goes.

Stampmaster - I'm from north-east England, but I've lived in London for forty-odd years. Presumably you were stationed in East Anglia? My old man was there with Gold Coast Squadron of Bomber Command during WWII.

@GEOFFHA, Yes I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall, but lived in Feltwell.

Stampmaster

Geoff,

I was at Raf Lakenheath. We operated an air traffic zone there to 5000 feet. Our zone included Mildenhall (cargo), Honington (RAF bomber), and our base (fighter). We would hand the flights to their respective bases where they would then bring them in. But if it was for Lakenheath approach, we would just hand them to the controller sitting right next to us!

Jack Kelley