Cleansing Stamps
Cleaning Stamps
Hello and
welcome to Part VII of my series, Caveat emptor. In
previous articles I have generally talked about the images we see listed to
help describe a stamp or group of stamps. I have tried to give some insights
into what to think about when looking at the images in the context of what the
seller is presenting in the scanned or photographed image.
In this piece
I want to talk about something a little different. After writing it I realized it was rather
long so it is in two parts. This is Part
I
Let’s forget
stamps for a minute. One day my daughter
came home from work and her hair was lovely, a clean blonde look that quite
suited her. Hmmmm! I thought she was a redhead when she
left this morning. She was stunning as a
redhead in my biased view. Now she was stunning
as a blonde!
I am reminded
of this because I remember reading on a stamp chat forum some time ago about
how to remove rust, or toning or foxing as it is also called, from a stamp. Yep, just like my daughter’s hair….well sort
of …. use some bleach or some chemical concoction and you can change the colour,
so to speak, or to put it another way, remove the rust.
I do not
advocate doing it to a stamp to “remove”
rust but it is done I am lead to believe and
until you actually get the stamp(s) you bought you won’t know, and even
then you may not realise it has been treated in someway. Does
the treatment harm the stamp? Does the
treatment harm the hair? some say maybe.
Ultimately the hair will recover and it will grow back to its original colour. Not so with the stamp. Once treated that is it. You have what you
have and as long as you as the collector are happy and look after the
stamp and do not allow more rust to form then I guess that is
ok. Maybe it
will never be seen that the stamp was treated to remove rust – each situation
is different so there is no definitive answer anyway – but if ever you want
to sell such a stamp it might prove to be a problem. Buyer beware of course.
One example: Above: pair
before using a chemical to try to remove rust shading on the left hand stamp. Second image below the reverse before using a
chemical - third image, the reverse after
using chemical and finally the front
of the stamps after using a chemical on the left hand stamp.
This is a
topic that has some sellers and collectors argue is acceptable and some present
the opposite point of view. It is you as
the collector who has to decide what you find acceptable. Just be aware that with let’s say ”old”
stamps say pre 1950s - although we can always find rust on more modern stamps if they have not been stored in suitable conditions - you will often find rust, simply because of the age associated
with the paper and the paper quality the stamps were printed on and the storage of them
over the years.
Let me
suggest this: finding pristine condition
stamps from the late 1800s and early
1900s is possible from very well established dealers and frequently at very high prices and for stamps with excellent providence, but I doubt – again generally speaking
- that such material is generally available from the 1000s of part time stamp sellers one finds these days
across the many internet philatelic
portals that exist on the internet Simply put, if you see such material
perhaps you should be asking yourself a few due diligence questions. Yes, Buyer beware.
Perhaps I
can give one more example here The
Great Britain George V example below
shows another perspective. Not only the
partial cleansing of the rusting but also a change in the colour of the stamp
face after the cleansing.
The images below show the before and after images of the reverse, and yes the cleansing has made an improvement.
In Part II I will discuss cleaning or rather soaking self adhesive gummed stamps with particular reference to Great Britain Security Machins.
posted by cddstamps @ 7:48 AM
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