Is There A Way To Clean This Orange Stamp?

This is an unused original gum stamp (189) but there is some discoloration on the front. Though one might assume lightened cancel, I don't think that's what it is. Is this another problem of orange stamps? Is there anything that can be done safely?

Thanks.

Nope. Not if you want to keep it "unused original gum," that is.

The gum on this 189 is heavily disturbed if it is original. Losing it may not matter that much if the stain would come out, but I think that the black is a cancel, and the stamp was sweated or soaked from an envelope and retained the gum. It happens.

Perfs tips sanded?
Don

Orange ink from this time period was prone to oxidation. The smudging seems to have contributed to this. I don't think there's much you can do at this point.

Atmospheric sulfur is the color change cause.




(Edited to add quote)

[Check your email risny.]

The perf tips definitely appear to have been altered - stamps that are torn apart simply don't get perf tips that are that 'fuzzy'. Also note the still-present perf hole on the right side. It appears to have some gum on half of the front and half of the back. I suspect the stamp was regummed, but more likely altered OG and the perf tips probably all showed glue at the ends until someone sanded the ends of them, resulting in the 'fuzzy' perf tips. The double-glued perf hole at right was missed and shows evidence of the 'work'.

On the (+) side, it appears to have captured a partial imprint at top. Collectors like this type of thing as a positional piece.

Mooter - Excellent eye on the imprint traces.

I don't think that the perforations have been touched. These soft paper issues can have rough perf tips. I do believe that the gum is as likely to be not original as it is to be original based solely upon a scan. In either case it is not what it should be.

In person the gum really looks fine. It's smooth, level, really looks normal. Other than marks from the hinging there is no major disturbance at all. It's probably scan artifacts from being in a transparent vario page when I scanned it. The gum really looks fine. Rogdcam is right though that the stain looks like a lightened cancel.

But I am leaning to the idea that someone just got something on the stamp at some point and tried cleaning it off. Retro reveal showed some streaks that certainly look like someone was wiping it off.

The other possibility is a rather extreme regumming and perfs sanding job. Not impossible, but in person, the gum looks too good and the perfs look great.

If I'm right I'd say it was OG but stained.

Your spot looks like an oil or grease stain. I could not recommend a way to lift it from a mint stamp. There are ways to remove the sulphuretting of the ink whilst preserving the gum, but I'm inclined to say you should be happy with it as-is.

An ultrasonic jewelry cleaner with watermark fluid (whatever you use) does a good job with oil and grease. The fluid does not attack the gum but can be a solvent for the oil or grease. Quite popular circa 1990 1984 once the technique was discovered.

So, after reading rogdcam's post, I got to thinking that it makes sense. I went to Siegel's Search and pulled up all the #189's. Most of them looked like I described - standard perfs without any fuzzy ends. But.... there were a few examples where they had likely been recently separated and I could see fuzzy perf ends. For the soft paper that we are talking about here, that makes sense. There were perfs in the Siegel Search that look nearly identical, fuzzy-wuzzy-wise, to the example shown by the OP. So, I have to roll back on my earlier post a bit.

Wow Parcelpost, interesting idea. We do have one of those in the house. Sounds relatively low risk. I have to contemplate that idea for a while.

Who here would want to buy a stamp which has been 'cleaned' without it being documented? Why would a seller want a reputation of 'cleaning' stamps? In my opinion not good stewardship, the stamp has patina.
Don

I agree but I do think some attempt at cleaning was already made. Retro reveal shows something that looks like wipe marks

That was a discussion back circa 1985 as well. A dealer who often cleaned a lot did leave the hobby for other reasons.

What can up then and I bring up now, what is "cleaning" does it include soaking a used stamp to remove a bunch of hinge remnants, using a small artist brush with water to lightly paint and remove a hinge on a gummed stamp? Blowing the dust off? Using soft erasers on covers and stamp to remove dust, dirt and other marks, including on the stamp. I only bring these examples up to show the "arena of cleaning" is open to much discussion and disagreement.

As an architect friend would say, as soon as a house is completed, it begins to compost. That is true of anything organic.

Edited to correct a spelling error.