Affixed In Albums With Tape.what To Do?

The stamps with before and after images ( 5 and 20s) appear to have lost color?
Don

Thanks guys! I thought it was an interesting experiment - and worth a shot since the stamps were too ugly to keep.




Yes, those two are slightly paler than they were, but I'm still pleased with the result. I am unsure which part of the process caused this. I chose sodium bicarbonate for the buffer precisely because it's a very weak base, and while it removed some yellowing/foxing I doubt it could bleach the ink. The type of "petrol" is commonly used by professional collectors, so I doubt that's it. That leaves the salt and/or hot water?

That said, these are all common stamps, and poor examples at that, particularly the ugly cancellation on the last one (20 ore) - I would never dream of doing anything like this to a rare or valuable stamp!

Edit: Looking more closely at one of the "faded" stamps side by side with an untreated copy of the same stamp (see below for photo) I think the apparent fading of the colour might be because the paper base was whitened slightly in the process - could it be that the green & red print on the stamps appeared more saturated because the stamp base had yellowed?

Here's a side-by-side of the rescued "20 ore" with one that is completely untreated - the rescued one is ever so slightly paler but it's a very subtle difference.

Thank you for posting your experiment, this is how the knowledgebase expands.

But if anyone is interested in adopting this process, please note that there are additional things to consider and be cautious about. For example, it could well be that this process could negatively affect a tagged stamp. Another concern would be that someone uses this process on an older stamps with manuscript cancels. Lastly, if a stamp were treated using this process, it may be that the treatment would be detected by a light wave comparator used by many certification organizations. The stamp certification would then call out the stamp as being 'cleaned'.
Don

Completely agree, and would add that any long-term effects on the stamps is unknown.

I just did a test with acetone on another two stamps that had sellotape on the back, but which were also badly damaged, with missing corners and rips. Wanted to see 1) if it would work as well as the "petrol" for removing sellotape and associated staining, 2) if it would affect the cancellations and 3) if it would affect the print on the stamp. Both stamps are engraved prints from the early 20th century, and neither cancellation or print was affected in any way, though unlike the "petrol" bath the stamps came out wrinkled (possibly because acetone is water soluble, which "petrol" is not). It also seemed acetone was less effective at dissolving the sellotape staining, with both stamps coming out of the bath with staining still present and a piece of sellotape still stuck to the back of one of them. I also noticed the acetone leaving behind a curious purple staining on the white paper I dried them on - this despite it being "100% chemically pure acetone", and no purple or blue colours being present on either of the stamps. I'm not sure if this is a reaction with something in the paper, something present in the acetone, or possibly coming from the cancellation ink. Just a heads-up. See photo.

Edit: It's nothing to do with the stamps; the purple staining appears also when I drip acetone on the paper straight from the bottle.

I'd also like to add, as a side note, since I see this coming up a lot: while the strong smell and aggressive nature might suggest otherwise, acetone is actually not particularly toxic. The main danger is the heavier-than-air explosive vapours it produces. From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone#Safety




The heptane/hexane/pentane "petrol"/lighter fluid is probably more toxic, though it smells far nicer These compounds mainly affect the nervous system, and there is no information about potential organ damage or elevated cancer risks in their Wikipedia entries.

In other words, I don't think there's much to worry about with these two chemicals when used infrequently in small quantities. There are far worse solvents wrt health risks.

I'm shocked by the institutionalized racism here. The dirty little secret is that acetone is Polish remover. How is this okay?!

If it was "French" remover, would you tolerate the loss of escargot? "Canadian" remover, poutine? I think not.

We're better than this.

(We're probably not...)

P vs p

Well, thaaat's different. Never mind.

Put the lid back on that heptane before you suffer permanent damage