When to soak a stamp?

Why is everyone assuming that the stamps are being removed from 'Covers'?
Less than 1% of modern stamp issues are used on Covers!

80% of my GB collection are used, and most of those were received 'on-paper'
so I had to soak them to remove the paper attached to the stamps before
mounting them in albums or stock books. NONE were removed from Covers.

David.


I see that here are not collectors of stamp on cover of cancellatons.
Do you have catalogues in your country with values of stamps on cover (or
canvellations)?
If yes, you can see that always the stamps on cover have the same or higher
selling value! I never seen that soaking stamps are more valuable!

Hans

Bill Sharpe wrote:
hvschaik wrote:

Never soak stamps!
The stamps are more valuable on cover !
Happy 2007
Hans

A few stamps are more valuable on cover; most are not.
Never say "never"

Also, be careful about using newsprint when drying the stamps. Often the
newsprint will be transferred to one side or the other of your stamp.

Bill

On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:08:43 -0000, "David French"
wrote:

Why is everyone assuming that the stamps are being removed from 'Covers'?
Less than 1% of modern stamp issues are used on Covers!

80% of my GB collection are used, and most of those were received 'on-paper'
so I had to soak them to remove the paper attached to the stamps before
mounting them in albums or stock books. NONE were removed from Covers.

I think that maybe some people were being cautious in their answer
here and rightly so. Even some modern "on piece" items or on covers
may be worth more collecting as an entire rather than soaking.

This is a touchy subject - not full of angst mind you - but one that
each collector has to reckon with themselves.

1) One person may collect "on piece" and think it's a disgrace to
soak.

2) The same goes for the cover collector who may think it's an
atrocity.

3) The average stamp collector, however, ends up with a collection
that seems "awkward" to many of us who have been around a while.

4) The soaker wants clean stamps and will oft times preserve "on
piece" items because they look nice.

5) Some soakers soak absolutely everything and that's fine if that's
what they want.

Some look absolutely atrocious and may be eating up stamps by foxing /
toning / etc. For instance, I was examining a strip of 3 U.S.
"BlackJacks" (don't remember the Scott #) for an auction dealer and I
pointed out that one had a tear, but on piece it looked intact. He
agreed and revised the listing. Stunk, because it lowered the value
considerably. Some times the stamps may be VERY imperfect underneath.
Some may be almost shredded but look very collectible on piece. Seen
this countless times.

Sometimes soaking is a chore. Modern S/A stamps. Austrian revenue
stamps, pre-1930. Others with printing under the gum side! The early
20th century Franz Josef Austrian revenues should be collected on
piece for that very reason. Believe me, the print DOES come off.

I will say this, though. A very clean KGVI or QEII pictorial looks
and "feels" absolutely awesome when soaked and cleaned. Not cleaned
to remove an markings, but maybe to remove some dirt or dust on it as
well as hinges.

Some older stamps on pelure paper and so forth are a real chore. Some
curl, you get gum breaks and a lot of other nasty stuff. To me,
soaking it and having it without gum is a lot nicer than trying to
achieve the absolute "living" condition for the stamp. I'm almost
sure that whoever picks up my collection won't come anywhere near
taking as good care as I have.

Period.

This is a hobby where I am supposed to have fun, not have rules
dictated to me by someone who doesn't truly give a hoot about what I
collect anyway. That said, I will listen (and listen closely) to
those who have preserved their stamps and don't nifty things to keep
the stamps in decent condition, without renting a museum and museum
quality merchandise to house them.

Now, where's that Cuba cover with Queen Isabella on it? I need to
soak that sucker. NOT!

That wraps it up nicely Tracy.

Being new and having limited knowledge, it is with some trepidation
that I take any of these precious works of art and put them in water to
soak and could not fathom why one would do so. It appears
counter-intuitive; however, now I can make an informed decision.

Thank you to everyone for input. Its been an enjoyable read and I
certainly have many ways to go about soaking if and when I get up the
nerve - I am surprised no one mentioned the shot of scotch!g

Cheers,

Susan


wrote:
On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:08:43 -0000, "David French"
wrote:

Why is everyone assuming that the stamps are being removed from 'Covers'?
Less than 1% of modern stamp issues are used on Covers!

80% of my GB collection are used, and most of those were received 'on-paper'
so I had to soak them to remove the paper attached to the stamps before
mounting them in albums or stock books. NONE were removed from Covers.

I think that maybe some people were being cautious in their answer
here and rightly so. Even some modern "on piece" items or on covers
may be worth more collecting as an entire rather than soaking.

This is a touchy subject - not full of angst mind you - but one that
each collector has to reckon with themselves.

1) One person may collect "on piece" and think it's a disgrace to
soak.

2) The same goes for the cover collector who may think it's an
atrocity.

3) The average stamp collector, however, ends up with a collection
that seems "awkward" to many of us who have been around a while.

4) The soaker wants clean stamps and will oft times preserve "on
piece" items because they look nice.

5) Some soakers soak absolutely everything and that's fine if that's
what they want.

Some look absolutely atrocious and may be eating up stamps by foxing /
toning / etc. For instance, I was examining a strip of 3 U.S.
"BlackJacks" (don't remember the Scott #) for an auction dealer and I
pointed out that one had a tear, but on piece it looked intact. He
agreed and revised the listing. Stunk, because it lowered the value
considerably. Some times the stamps may be VERY imperfect underneath.
Some may be almost shredded but look very collectible on piece. Seen
this countless times.

Sometimes soaking is a chore. Modern S/A stamps. Austrian revenue
stamps, pre-1930. Others with printing under the gum side! The early
20th century Franz Josef Austrian revenues should be collected on
piece for that very reason. Believe me, the print DOES come off.

I will say this, though. A very clean KGVI or QEII pictorial looks
and "feels" absolutely awesome when soaked and cleaned. Not cleaned
to remove an markings, but maybe to remove some dirt or dust on it as
well as hinges.

Some older stamps on pelure paper and so forth are a real chore. Some
curl, you get gum breaks and a lot of other nasty stuff. To me,
soaking it and having it without gum is a lot nicer than trying to
achieve the absolute "living" condition for the stamp. I'm almost
sure that whoever picks up my collection won't come anywhere near
taking as good care as I have.

Period.

This is a hobby where I am supposed to have fun, not have rules
dictated to me by someone who doesn't truly give a hoot about what I
collect anyway. That said, I will listen (and listen closely) to
those who have preserved their stamps and don't nifty things to keep
the stamps in decent condition, without renting a museum and museum
quality merchandise to house them.

Now, where's that Cuba cover with Queen Isabella on it? I need to
soak that sucker. NOT!

Although it has been touched on in this thread the one thing I would
like to reiterate is that you should be aware of fugitive stamps. These
are stamps printed with a water soluble ink or on chalky paper. The
colours will run, damaging the stamps as well as staining any other
stamps in the same bowl of water.
Many catalogues provide a footnote indicating which stamps are fugitive
but not always. I ruined some moderately expensive early Rhodesian
stamps that started bleeding colour immediately on contact with the
water.
Clive


Smith wrote:
That wraps it up nicely Tracy.

Being new and having limited knowledge, it is with some trepidation
that I take any of these precious works of art and put them in water to
soak and could not fathom why one would do so. It appears
counter-intuitive; however, now I can make an informed decision.

Thank you to everyone for input. Its been an enjoyable read and I
certainly have many ways to go about soaking if and when I get up the
nerve - I am surprised no one mentioned the shot of scotch!g

Cheers,

Susan

Some older stamps on pelure paper and so forth are a real chore. Some
curl, you get gum breaks and a lot of other nasty stuff.

If you lay the damp stamp against the curl, on a
cotton tea towel, on a flat surface, and caress the
surface with the heel of your stamp tongs, it will correct curl
every time.

If the postmark is illegible then soaking will do no harm - apart from
the caveats already mentioned. However if the postmark is clear and
legible ( and the stamp common ) it may be better left on piece for the
sake of the postmark - especially if it is a duplicate of a stamp
already in your collection. Stamps from small post offices or with
distinctive markings are collected by a small number of devotees, and
by postal historians. A small selection of these may be exchanged with
such collectors for "normal" stamps for your collection.

I am quite happy to soak junior collections to obtain the odd new
specimen for my collection and to add to my collection of trading
duplicates. Not all will be rescued, but there is something satisfying
in removing debris from the back of an even common stamp and bringing
it back to collectible condition. For stamps with old hinges on the
back you can use a soft artist's brush dipped in water just to soften
the hinge - I may be stating the obvious but use a new brush and not
one that your 6-year old has used to daub oils on his school art
project!!! Also whenever soaking always peel the paper from the stamp.
and never the stamp from the paper. I try to get the paper just wet
enough to come off the stamp without damaging it but not so wet that
the stamp floats off with subsequent danger to the phosphor or fugitive
inks - practice on a pound of common kiloware to gauge the optimum for
each type of stamp - and NEVER do this activity when tired or after
consuming alcohol.

I find that when working on my collection it is best to spend short
periods of time in various activities - soaking, sorting,using the u/v
lamp,mounting, using a magnifier etc - you are less likely to become
overtired spreading the work this way then trying to spend 3 or 4 hours
looking through a magnifier for example. If you are organized enough
with stock books and envelopes etc you can do this and not lose the
threads, plus you don't get bored !

Everyone has their own way of working, and only experience ( and
reading the contents of sites like this ) will bring you to what you
are comfortable with.

To go back to whether to soak or not just think first - for once it is
done it cannot be undone - and everyone has soaked something at some
time that they wish later they had not. I have soaked common kiloware
with stamps in great variety where I wish I had kept on paper in date
order to identify the varieties of paper etc before I soaked from the
post date! It cost me hours of time sorting later - and soaked Belgian
Railway stamps where they could have been postmarked at small stations
with rare cancels etc etc
Malcolm


wrote:
Although it has been touched on in this thread the one thing I would
like to reiterate is that you should be aware of fugitive stamps. These
are stamps printed with a water soluble ink or on chalky paper. The
colours will run, damaging the stamps as well as staining any other
stamps in the same bowl of water.
Many catalogues provide a footnote indicating which stamps are fugitive
but not always. I ruined some moderately expensive early Rhodesian
stamps that started bleeding colour immediately on contact with the
water.
Clive


Smith wrote:
That wraps it up nicely Tracy.

Being new and having limited knowledge, it is with some trepidation
that I take any of these precious works of art and put them in water to
soak and could not fathom why one would do so. It appears
counter-intuitive; however, now I can make an informed decision.

Thank you to everyone for input. Its been an enjoyable read and I
certainly have many ways to go about soaking if and when I get up the
nerve - I am surprised no one mentioned the shot of scotch!g

Cheers,

Susan

Greeting Hans:

Actually this collection includes covers as well as lots of other types
of collections options.

In this lot there is:

- FDCs
- 100s of covers in various condition from very tattered to not bad
considering age.
- 1000s of torn evelopes, some with cancellations/slogan, some torn in
the middle of the cancellations.
- Two albums partially used-some hinged, some loose.
- Handfuls of loose stamps some used, perfed, some previously hinged,
some new, some in mint condition, some not worth anything expect to
provide some enjoyment.

So far, the collection ranges from approx 1875 to the 1990s.

That said, I posed the question 'why' soak stamps given my newness to
philately and its care. This group has been providing some great advice
on why one would soak a stamp and also gave me a heads up on being
careful with values of cancellations or covers.

At present I do not have a catalogue of values, however, it is on an
upcoming 'to buy' list.I am still building up the nerve to soak my
first stamp. I just don't want to ruin any of them :-)

The internet has provided me with lots of info though - like what
cancellations are rare, i.e.. grills, etc.

Thanks,
Susan

hvschaik wrote:
I see that here are not collectors of stamp on cover of cancellatons.
Do you have catalogues in your country with values of stamps on cover
(or canvellations)?
If yes, you can see that always the stamps on cover have the same or
higher selling value! I never seen that soaking stamps are more valuable!

Hans

Bill Sharpe wrote:
hvschaik wrote:

Never soak stamps!
The stamps are more valuable on cover !
Happy 2007
Hans

A few stamps are more valuable on cover; most are not.
Never say "never"

Also, be careful about using newsprint when drying the stamps. Often the
newsprint will be transferred to one side or the other of your stamp.

Bill

Greeting Susan,

Thanks for your email and understanding my plea for stamps on cover.
In the netherlands there is a special club for stamps on cover
collectors and many catalogues. Even Ebay has a special site for the
Netherlands, look at:
http://postzegels.listings.ebay.nl/N...istingItemList
(only in dutch, sorry)
You can see the website of a society (also only in dutch):
http://www.po-en-po.nl/
This are only 2 examples.

I do not know if the are catalogus of stamps-on-cover for other
countries, but I think the real philatelists will know.
When I see by the biggest auctions that there are many bids from
foreigners, who bid so very high, then I believe there are more
knowledges in the world about stamp-on-cover.

I'm a specialist about Indonesian revenues. Revenue stamp on cover are
10 - 20 times more expensive than the only stamp.
For almost the whole world there are catalogues for revenue stamps, some
with a pricelist with stamps-on-document!

So my conclusion is:
Never soak a stamp from the cover (or document). When soaking, you loose
money!

Thanks,
Hans


Smith wrote:
Greeting Hans:

Actually this collection includes covers as well as lots of other types
of collections options.

In this lot there is:

- FDCs
- 100s of covers in various condition from very tattered to not bad
considering age.
- 1000s of torn evelopes, some with cancellations/slogan, some torn in
the middle of the cancellations.
- Two albums partially used-some hinged, some loose.
- Handfuls of loose stamps some used, perfed, some previously hinged,
some new, some in mint condition, some not worth anything expect to
provide some enjoyment.

So far, the collection ranges from approx 1875 to the 1990s.

That said, I posed the question 'why' soak stamps given my newness to
philately and its care. This group has been providing some great advice
on why one would soak a stamp and also gave me a heads up on being
careful with values of cancellations or covers.

At present I do not have a catalogue of values, however, it is on an
upcoming 'to buy' list.I am still building up the nerve to soak my
first stamp. I just don't want to ruin any of them :-)

The internet has provided me with lots of info though - like what
cancellations are rare, i.e.. grills, etc.

Thanks,
Susan

hvschaik wrote:

I see that here are not collectors of stamp on cover of cancellatons.
Do you have catalogues in your country with values of stamps on cover
(or canvellations)?
If yes, you can see that always the stamps on cover have the same or
higher selling value! I never seen that soaking stamps are more valuable!

Hans

Bill Sharpe wrote:

hvschaik wrote:


Never soak stamps!
The stamps are more valuable on cover !
Happy 2007
Hans


A few stamps are more valuable on cover; most are not.
Never say "never"

Also, be careful about using newsprint when drying the stamps. Often the
newsprint will be transferred to one side or the other of your stamp.

Bill

Good to know.

Thanks for the links. Very Interesting. Given the quantity of covers I
have I will keep my eye out for reference material that will help
collect some of this knowledge.

Cheers,
Susan
hvschaik wrote:
Greeting Susan,

Thanks for your email and understanding my plea for stamps on cover.
In the netherlands there is a special club for stamps on cover
collectors and many catalogues. Even Ebay has a special site for the
Netherlands, look at:
http://postzegels.listings.ebay.nl/N...istingItemList
(only in dutch, sorry)
You can see the website of a society (also only in dutch):
http://www.po-en-po.nl/
This are only 2 examples.

I do not know if the are catalogus of stamps-on-cover for other
countries, but I think the real philatelists will know.
When I see by the biggest auctions that there are many bids from
foreigners, who bid so very high, then I believe there are more
knowledges in the world about stamp-on-cover.

I'm a specialist about Indonesian revenues. Revenue stamp on cover are
10 - 20 times more expensive than the only stamp.
For almost the whole world there are catalogues for revenue stamps, some
with a pricelist with stamps-on-document!

So my conclusion is:
Never soak a stamp from the cover (or document). When soaking, you loose
money!

Thanks,
Hans


Smith wrote:
Greeting Hans:

Actually this collection includes covers as well as lots of other types
of collections options.

In this lot there is:

- FDCs
- 100s of covers in various condition from very tattered to not bad
considering age.
- 1000s of torn evelopes, some with cancellations/slogan, some torn in
the middle of the cancellations.
- Two albums partially used-some hinged, some loose.
- Handfuls of loose stamps some used, perfed, some previously hinged,
some new, some in mint condition, some not worth anything expect to
provide some enjoyment.

So far, the collection ranges from approx 1875 to the 1990s.

That said, I posed the question 'why' soak stamps given my newness to
philately and its care. This group has been providing some great advice
on why one would soak a stamp and also gave me a heads up on being
careful with values of cancellations or covers.

At present I do not have a catalogue of values, however, it is on an
upcoming 'to buy' list.I am still building up the nerve to soak my
first stamp. I just don't want to ruin any of them :-)

The internet has provided me with lots of info though - like what
cancellations are rare, i.e.. grills, etc.

Thanks,
Susan

hvschaik wrote:

I see that here are not collectors of stamp on cover of cancellatons.
Do you have catalogues in your country with values of stamps on cover
(or canvellations)?
If yes, you can see that always the stamps on cover have the same or
higher selling value! I never seen that soaking stamps are more valuable!

Hans

Bill Sharpe wrote:

hvschaik wrote:


Never soak stamps!
The stamps are more valuable on cover !
Happy 2007
Hans


A few stamps are more valuable on cover; most are not.
Never say "never"

Also, be careful about using newsprint when drying the stamps. Often the
newsprint will be transferred to one side or the other of your stamp.

Bill