Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Is there a guide anywhere that specifies which issues can be safely soaked and which cannot? Can anyone with experience help me to avoid damaging other stamps by trial and error?
The scan below shows some of those for which I would like some guidance:
Row 1 - 2006 - all soaked okay
Row 2 - 2007 - all soaked okay
Row 3 - 2008 - all soaked okay
Row 4 - first 2 - 2010 - not so good; second 2 (Paraolympics issue) - not tried
Row 5 - 2012 - first stamp - not so good; others not tried
Row 6 - 2013 (first three); 2014 (fourth stamp); 2015 (fifth stamp) - not tried
Any advice would be appreciated.
J. T. Hurd.
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Hi
Pretty much anything from 2010 will not soak in water, the GB Post Office are doing this to try to prevent re-use of unfranked stamps by using non water based adhesive on the stamps. Applies pretty much to all of the S/A comms issues too. Although saying this, the Madonna & Child stamp 1st second row was issued over a couple of years so the later ones can be troublesome and there is nothing to distinguish between these issues,
I have a proprietary stamp lifter fluid similar to this one produced by Lindner
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lindner-ERNI-Stamp-Remover-Lift-High-Quality-Best-Fluid-For-All-Types-NEW/112851772356?hash=item1a467d63c4:g:tXMAAOSwB45anZFb:rk:14:pf:0
Only problem is that it cannot be sent via airmail which makes getting it here in Portugal a little difficult. Fortunately I have a friend who drives back to the UK every 12 months or so I get him to bring it back for me.
Hope this helps
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Thank you for this.
JTH
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01:42:57am
First, The reason there are smudged cancellations is
to give collectors examples to experiment stamp dismount
technique's onto try things out.
So, if I get a beautifully cancelled new stamp, I set
it aside until I find a smudged example to test, the
procedures on.
Sometimes several problem stamps are necessary as one
attempt after another fails. However badly over cancelled,
smudged, lightly torn, or heavily creased stamps are
bound for the dustbin anyway.
All that said, I have found isopropyl alcohol 70% (Rubbing
Alcohol ) works on almost everything, except a few Aussie stamps.
It seems that the first group of problem stamps respond
easily.
The second group to around 2012-'13 can be left a bit
longer and teased apart delicately. I have quite a pile
of newer UK small sized definitives similar to those
issues shown to work, but have been too busy.
I have not had any problem with the most recent Machins or
the large commemoratives, so I have not anticipated any
problem.
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I have found very recent GB Christmas S/A soak off in water leaving the gum on the paper.
For my Australian S/A I use Shellite it is 100% hydrocarbon liquid.The stamps lift of the paper after around a 10 second soak ,only problem the gum remains on the stamp and has to be softened again by dipping it back in the fluid and then scraping the gum off.You have to be very careful when scraping that you don't catch the cuts that are put in to prevent reuse of the stamps (It doesn't work).
Brian
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Hey CDJ1122, do you just soak the stamps in the isopropyl alcohol?
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12:05:28am
".... Hey CDJ1122, do you just soak the stamps in the isopropyl alcohol?...."
Yes, but not more than five or ten minutes. I often, but not always,
dip the stamp in an adjacent jar of pure water, as it comes from the
alcohol jar. Some stamps' glutenous mixture is more obstinate than others.
For many issues the stamp gladly slides off the paper, for others I
lay the stamp on a small square of marble and have to gently tease the
paper from the stamp.
I started using rubbing alcohol in the mid-sixties to detect watermark
variants on Wildings and Norwegian "Posthorns."
Good Luck.
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Thanks, I'm giving this a shot today.
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Charlie, did you notice any effect of the alcohol on the printing colours of the commemoratives and Christmas stamps? There are inks that are soluble in alcohol, such as that of the red Marianne de Bicentenaire, and the gold 1st class Machins.
-jmh
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Well it worked on some items, but not on all. The search continues.
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12:09:00am
"... Charlie, did you notice any effect of the
alcohol on the printing colours ..."
Not on the stamps I just dip for a minute or so.
A few that were left for ten or twenty minutes
when I got distracted yes, ruined.
There could not be any worse color change than
stamps immersed in lighter fluid or other alcohol
based solvents during the last hundred and fifty
years, by just about every stamp dealer I've seen
check a water mark. And looking at Wildings and
George "Vs" I mounted in the 1960s there is no
change from examples I have recently acquired to
process when I get a chance.
(The "Someday Isle" file).
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Thanks for the information, Charlie. Looks like I'm going to experiment some more.
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Since about 2006, Great Britain has issued Christmas stamps (and others) as self-adhesives. In my experience, some of the early ones (2006, 2007, 2008) could be removed from paper by soaking in the traditional way, with warm water, but with more recent issues (2010 and 2012), I have not had good success, with the stamps being thinned and damaged. As a result, I have been reluctant to try soaking others, and especially more recent ones (2013 through 2015) ... I seem to be a few years behind!
Is there a guide anywhere that specifies which issues can be safely soaked and which cannot? Can anyone with experience help me to avoid damaging other stamps by trial and error?
The scan below shows some of those for which I would like some guidance:
Row 1 - 2006 - all soaked okay
Row 2 - 2007 - all soaked okay
Row 3 - 2008 - all soaked okay
Row 4 - first 2 - 2010 - not so good; second 2 (Paraolympics issue) - not tried
Row 5 - 2012 - first stamp - not so good; others not tried
Row 6 - 2013 (first three); 2014 (fourth stamp); 2015 (fifth stamp) - not tried
Any advice would be appreciated.
J. T. Hurd.
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06:10:45am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Hi
Pretty much anything from 2010 will not soak in water, the GB Post Office are doing this to try to prevent re-use of unfranked stamps by using non water based adhesive on the stamps. Applies pretty much to all of the S/A comms issues too. Although saying this, the Madonna & Child stamp 1st second row was issued over a couple of years so the later ones can be troublesome and there is nothing to distinguish between these issues,
I have a proprietary stamp lifter fluid similar to this one produced by Lindner
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lindner-ERNI-Stamp-Remover-Lift-High-Quality-Best-Fluid-For-All-Types-NEW/112851772356?hash=item1a467d63c4:g:tXMAAOSwB45anZFb:rk:14:pf:0
Only problem is that it cannot be sent via airmail which makes getting it here in Portugal a little difficult. Fortunately I have a friend who drives back to the UK every 12 months or so I get him to bring it back for me.
Hope this helps
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re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Thank you for this.
JTH
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
28 Jan 2019
01:42:57am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
First, The reason there are smudged cancellations is
to give collectors examples to experiment stamp dismount
technique's onto try things out.
So, if I get a beautifully cancelled new stamp, I set
it aside until I find a smudged example to test, the
procedures on.
Sometimes several problem stamps are necessary as one
attempt after another fails. However badly over cancelled,
smudged, lightly torn, or heavily creased stamps are
bound for the dustbin anyway.
All that said, I have found isopropyl alcohol 70% (Rubbing
Alcohol ) works on almost everything, except a few Aussie stamps.
It seems that the first group of problem stamps respond
easily.
The second group to around 2012-'13 can be left a bit
longer and teased apart delicately. I have quite a pile
of newer UK small sized definitives similar to those
issues shown to work, but have been too busy.
I have not had any problem with the most recent Machins or
the large commemoratives, so I have not anticipated any
problem.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
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re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
I have found very recent GB Christmas S/A soak off in water leaving the gum on the paper.
For my Australian S/A I use Shellite it is 100% hydrocarbon liquid.The stamps lift of the paper after around a 10 second soak ,only problem the gum remains on the stamp and has to be softened again by dipping it back in the fluid and then scraping the gum off.You have to be very careful when scraping that you don't catch the cuts that are put in to prevent reuse of the stamps (It doesn't work).
Brian
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09:25:21am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Hey CDJ1122, do you just soak the stamps in the isopropyl alcohol?
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
05 Feb 2019
12:05:28am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
".... Hey CDJ1122, do you just soak the stamps in the isopropyl alcohol?...."
Yes, but not more than five or ten minutes. I often, but not always,
dip the stamp in an adjacent jar of pure water, as it comes from the
alcohol jar. Some stamps' glutenous mixture is more obstinate than others.
For many issues the stamp gladly slides off the paper, for others I
lay the stamp on a small square of marble and have to gently tease the
paper from the stamp.
I started using rubbing alcohol in the mid-sixties to detect watermark
variants on Wildings and Norwegian "Posthorns."
Good Luck.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
03:08:25am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Thanks, I'm giving this a shot today.
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this post
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Charlie, did you notice any effect of the alcohol on the printing colours of the commemoratives and Christmas stamps? There are inks that are soluble in alcohol, such as that of the red Marianne de Bicentenaire, and the gold 1st class Machins.
-jmh
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10:56:08am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Well it worked on some items, but not on all. The search continues.
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this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
24 Feb 2019
12:09:00am
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
"... Charlie, did you notice any effect of the
alcohol on the printing colours ..."
Not on the stamps I just dip for a minute or so.
A few that were left for ten or twenty minutes
when I got distracted yes, ruined.
There could not be any worse color change than
stamps immersed in lighter fluid or other alcohol
based solvents during the last hundred and fifty
years, by just about every stamp dealer I've seen
check a water mark. And looking at Wildings and
George "Vs" I mounted in the 1960s there is no
change from examples I have recently acquired to
process when I get a chance.
(The "Someday Isle" file).
Login to Like
this post
re: Question: How does one know which self-adhesive Christmas stamps can be soaked successfully?
Thanks for the information, Charlie. Looks like I'm going to experiment some more.
Login to Like
this post