The Sponge Bottle Stamp And Envelope Moisteners – Why Do They Have Adhesives?

Hi all – Why do the sponge bottle products include an adhesive in the liquid? The stamps and envelopes already have adhesive gum that just needs to be moistened with water. Why add a second adhesive to the system?

Do you know if adding that adhesive has any implications for the preservation of the stamps and covers long-term? I'm new to philately and APS, and I've noticed that any time I receive mail from you people, it's plastered with lots of interesting stamps (adding up to the current postal monopoly rate). I assume y'all aren't licking all those stamps, so you use the bottles then?

Is there a standard practice of philatelic stamp moistening etiquette, say to use only distilled water and unicorn tears instead of the premixed adhesive bottles? It seems risky, from a conservation perspective, to add a second adhesive to the gum.

The main sponge bottle moistener brands I see on Amazon are Quality Park and Klingy. Are there philatelic brands free of risky adhesives?

I think you'll find that most collectors lick the stamps, unless they own those moistened pads that staff in shops and offices used to have. So, from a conservation perspective, analysis may reveal traces of scrod, gumbo and squirrel.

I don't know, specifically, the answer to your question, BUT.... I can say that I have soaked enough stamps and integrated them into my pile to ASSUME that I have unknowingly processed a bunch of the stamps affixed in the way you wonder about. I don't regularly have problems with soaking or 'preserving' stamps that I cannot explain the problems, so I assume there is little or no effect with the treatment you ask about. Of course, that is my POV and the conclusion has a few assumptions in it.

Huh. I've always just licked stamps or used a sponge or applicator with tap water. As far as "conservation," you're over thinking it: any stamp any of "us people" would use for postage, was printed in the tens or hundreds of millions, and wouldn't be worth more than face value... otherwise we'd keep it. There's nothing to conserve.