What made me cry was both bisected half
were sideways watermarks... the point of all this soaking.

Don't soak, use a sweat box!

Why not? I like to soak. Only exception would be a stamp I knew has water
soluble ink. No matter how I took it off the paper, this was a ruined stamp.
Into to damaged stamps for crafts box went both pieces.

Dave
Use commemorative stamps on ALL your mail.
Introduce the hobby of collecting stamps to someone.
Above all, enjoy your hobby regardless of what you collect!