Soaking Old Stamps To Remove Hinge Remnants??

Hey Good Afternoon everyone..I'm looking at a 19th century stamp with a partial hinge sticking above the top perfs..Is it feasible to try and soak the hinge off or am I doing more harm than good.The partial hinge touches the top most row of the grill.

You did not indicate whether it is used. Just my opinion, but if it is used, soaking the hinge off is quite reasonable. But if it is unused and has gum, best to just leave it alone.

Yes it is definitely a used stamp...Thanks

I thought I might add that sometimes old hinges can cover up thins and other flaws, so always brace yourself for the possibility that the stamp might be in poorer condition than you thought. Still, it is better to know the truth of it.

And there is another item to ponder. Is the ink that the stamp was printed with fugitive? Best thing to do is let us know what stamp it is - give us all info possible

Peter

When I want to remove hinge remains from a stamp that might be printed with a fugitive ink I wet a pad of paper and put the stamp, hinge side down on the paper so the stamp gets as little moisture as possible and there are no currents of water to wash away ink. Of course the pad is Acid free kitchen roll and the water is distilled and sterile. the person who originally used the stamp of course used archive grade envelopes and acid free spit!

Thanks for responding everyone!!...this particular stamp is Scott #121 in the 1869 pictorial series

I can't recall reading anything about the 1869 pictorials being printed in fugitive ink or being unsafe to soak.

It's a valuable stamp - not one to start practicing on. If you're not very comfortable/familiar with soaking stamps, you should start with much less expensive/common stamps first & practice on those...