Advice On Cleaning Very Dirty Unused And Used Stamps

I have scoured the forum for tips on cleaning this $20 flea market monster I picked up over the summer. Some of the items are beautiful and would fill some holes in my collection. I suspect that this came from someone's attic and should be cleaned for sanitary reasons. I noticed a number of contradictions on methods. I have a few specific questions:

1. General wash of used stamps:
a. Peroxide solution(1teaspoon:1cup) OR dish liquid?
b. If dish liquid, does anyone recommend a brand and solution ratio?

2. Is there a recommended method for cleaning unused stamps? I posted a couple of years ago about a collection I bought that contained draftsman's powder in a few envelopes. Is that a safe method?

3. Some of these have their Scott number penciled on the back. I plan to leave those alone for now. I didn't and would never do that to a stamp. Ugh!

4. Obviously, I will not be mixing the flea market items with my main collection any time soon. Can anyone suggest a wait time? 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? Other?

I included a few photos because I love to see what you all have in your collections.

The one on top looks like heavy foxing or mold. It could also be like a coffeedrinker who was careless and stained the stamp . If a soak/bath doesn't improve it I would throw it in the bin. The other three I would leave alone, they don't look that bad at all. I don't otherwise have any other good advice for "cleaning". Most tried methods seems quite lousy anyways. Best wishes from Sweden

Thank you, Ubiyca! Sadly, many of these look like the first stamp.

No problem. I just say what I would do. I have had a bad experience in the past with foxing and mold spores, I had to bin an entire album. So I take no chances myself... toning is fine, but once the brown spots starts to develop, even if it's half of a single perf I immediately bin it, or at least isolate it far away like you did. I hope some other individual on this site can help you. All the best, Dan

Good stewardship dictates using cool, clear water. Adding liquid soap is not recommended, it can contain optical brighteners (makes your dishes look cleaner). The optical brighteners then can cause your cleaned stamps to glow under UV and other light sources (like under a VSC6000 if you send your stamp in for certification).
Of course folks are welcome to do whatever they want to their own stamps but when posting in a public forum like this it is best to make informed decisions.
Don

Don,
I've read many of your posts. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I've always used plain water in the past, but this batch forced me to ask. Good stewardship trumps "looking cleaner" every time. I'm a little afraid of my coffee mug after reading your post, though!

Side note: I once worked in a restaurant that had a '51 Studebaker parked out front.

Best,
Esther

The exact reason I have a desk and a table beside it and any drink goes on the side table and never makes it over the stamp desk.

I'm sure someone has experimented with approaches to eliminating stains caused by foxing, dirt, and other things that make stamps look bad. But I've never seen such information. And it always risks altering the stamp's color or design and so on. I've occasionally used a very soft eraser to gently remove pencil marks or other smudges, but I don't go beyond that and only do this rarely. It's good to stay away from the design of the stamp since even a soft eraser might remove some of the ink. Stamps are fairly delicate things.

One time, I tried a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in a half cup of water on a few stamps that had clear foxing or other stains just to see if that might miraculously cure the problem. These were all very cheap, disposable stamps. Mostly, it had no effect. I've been warned away from trying a few drops of bleach in water for obvious reasons. That could destroy the stamp design and would certainly weaken the paper.

I don't know of any source for information of cleaning dirty stamps. Other than a few swipes of a very soft eraser on obviously dirty stamps, I generally mount stamps "as is" and just keep looking for a better copy. And I'd never do anything to stamps worth more than a few dollars. Removing hinges is about all I ever try. I am very delicate, but every once in awhile I've damaged a stamp. That can ruin your day.

The soft eraser could help the first two. I suggest using the white Mars Staedler one from an art supply store. People like transparent vinyl erasers but those will react with a lot of plastics like if you leave it on a binder cover.

Peroxide also weakens stamp fibers. A light touch will not bring stamps with staining/toning back to their original brightness. It is more or less a choice of last resort and doesn't always help much. If the eraser doesn't work to satisfaction, then just keep them as they are.

mirman, Drew, and Brasil,

Thank you for your responses. I, too, have a separate table for stamps away from my regular desk. I have 2 large dogs who aren't allowed in my office when stamps are out. One wagging tail can make stamps fly! I said I was afraid of my coffee mug because of the optical brighteners making it look clean. lol

I've made a note of the eraser recommended for the future—if I ever feel that brave! Even when I was a broke teenager starting my collection, I saved my pennies to buy envelopes and wrote the number on those.

Thank you to everyone for making this community thrive! I live in a collecting desert and truly value your assistance and advice!

If anyone else has any advice I would like to hear it.

I ventured into auction world and bought a lot that was much bigger than I thought. Hundreds and hundreds of stamps and some I would like to keep. But it seems this came from some old dealer (many dupes in stock books, in glassines) and they really weren't care for at the end. I don't detect any mold among all of it, but certain batches do seem to be dirty.

Seems like just water; any idea of a good temperature and for for how long?

Thanks.

Personal opinion.
Collectors waste 1000's of hours on fruitless energies.
(Yep, been there, done that)

Soaking every stamp they have, bad move.
Soak / clean the stamps that you want in your Album, the rest are "duplicates"
leave the work to the next collector.

Clean your stamps? again only those you consider to deserve your time.
Clean any soiled stamps, that you intend to mount.
The rest leave to..... etc etc.



Follow advice by 51 Studebaker (Don) Sound advice !
Don't fret over soiled stamps, quite often you will find a newer fresher example will turn up.

Most of the ones you show have toning, aging of the paper, that soaking won't help. For the ones you want to keep, cold water might help some types of staining or plain dirt. You might soak a few that look just dirty for a test and examine occasionally to see if there is any improvement. Be aware for some old stamps, inks are fugitive/colors run.

Otherwise, you might sell off the rest at auction. "Much bigger than I thought" sounds like that you didn't inspect it in person, so if you made a flyer bid based on a guess, you probably got the lot because it was lower quality. Always inspect large lots.

Rather than start a new thread, here's an addition. I had the attached duplicates and wanted to experiment a little. I first soaked them to loosen dirt, hinge remnants, etc., in hot reverse osmosis water. Then a dunk in room temp RO water to rinse. Then a short soak in 12% kitchen grade/commercial hydrogen peroxide for a few minutes and then light light brushing with small nylon bristle modelers paint brush. Then rinse again in room temp RO to stop/remove peroxide process. Then dry. Like I said - experiment only. FWIW.


Original:





Cleaned: