Mildew

Oh that's icky! Awww I bet you're bummed. All the work of soaking and now you have to start over.

And this is weird! and unexpected. Aren't you up north? The humidity in the winter is usually very low in northern homes if you have a typical forced air heating system. Were they in a high humidity area of the house? Down here in Florida mildew is a constant problem. I monitor the humidity in my stamp den and use a dehumidifier to keep it at around 50%. In any case, if you were using a desert magic drying book, I'd recommend tossing it and getting a new one.

As these are not fragile classics, I'd risk a brief bath in a diluted bleach solution to remove the mildew. Down here we call it "el dios blanco".

Many thanks for your post, Jean (polarbear ).

I am very surprised at what has happened to you, as I have never heard of this before, developing mildew on stamps while they are drying during press-flattening after soaking.  I am so sorry that this has happened, as you clearly deserve better after putting in the time and effort to soak and flatten them in the first place.  OK, let's tag some members who have experience in these areas, including some knowledge of chemistry:

Michael (Londonbus1 ) has posted about a method for removing foxing using potassium permanganate.  I will post the link when I find it, but at the moment, his post is eluding me.  As foxing is also attributed to a form of mold, I would think that his method may be applicable to mildew, which is also a form of mold.

Jim (jkjblue ) is very knowledgeable about chemistry and has posted about peroxide use for reversing sulfuretting in the Cape of Good Hope Triangles thread.  Although I respect Stan's (stainlessb ) suggestion to try peroxide, from a chemistry perspective, mildew isn't the same thing as sulfuretting, and I am not sure if it would be effective.  On the other hand, I don't think that 3% peroxide will damage the stamps, either, so it may be worth a try.

Terri's (philatelia ) suggestion to try some form of bleach certainly makes sense from a mildew removal standpoint, as it is generally recommended for cleaning it off of other surfaces such as ceramic tile, wood, etc.  The problem with bleach is that it will also affect the color of the stamps.  I would proceed with caution if you go down this path, meaning don't use the bleach in concentrated strength and be mindful of how long you soak it.

Steve (tomiseksj ) is good with drying books and soaking of self-adhesives and may be able to make a recommendation in this area.

Jean, I will continue to read up more about mildew to see if I can find anything else.  Another tidbit I have found so far is that distilled white vinegar can also be used to kill some forms of mildew, so that might also be an option, although I have no personal experience with it.  Anyway, I will continue to search for info.

I’ll have to try your tips on the peroxide - sounds better than my ideas. Lol I actually want to try it on my grout! And -YES - if you do use bleach, it must be VERY DILUTED. I’ve used it in the past on modern material with good results, but Beryllium Guy is right - use extreme caution and test it first. 

Personally, my preference would be to buy a new desert magic drying book rather than try to salvage a moldy one. They aren’t terribly expensive after all. And a newer book dries faster and smoother. Weighing the value of the stamps and the time and effort to soak vs. the cost of the drying book and it’s no contest in my eyes. I just replaced several of my older, used books and wow what a difference. The stamps slid off the page perfectly flat and dry in less than 12 hours. I do have one advantage, if the drying book still feels damp, I set it out in the intense Florida sun for 30 minutes.

Many thanks for your follow-up post, Stan (stainlessb), and apologies for my misunderstanding of your previous post.  When I think of hydrogen peroxide related to stamps, my mind goes first to using it as a means to reverse the effects of sulfuretting.  Your work experience in this area sounds excellent and was not a context that I had considered when I read your earlier comments.  Thank you for setting the record straight!

In a philatelic context, I note that Stevenson, in his famous book on Cape Triangles, talks about the use of hydrogen peroxide to remove cancellations from stamps back in the 19th Century.  I have to imagine that for peroxide to be able to remove a cancel, it would have to have been in a concentrated form and very different from the 3% formula commonly found in drugstores.

I know that dilute peroxide can be used as a household disinfectant, and I have used it myself to clean cuts and abrasions before applying a bandage.

Yes indeed, Stan (stainlessb), the purpose of cancel removal was fraudulent re-use of the stamps.  That's why the early Perkins Bacon issues have blued paper.  The bluing came from the addition of another chemical to prevent the fraudulent re-use.

Thank you very much for mentioning that prolonged soaking in dilute peroxide can also damage the stamp.  I had also read that, but I had never heard of any actual examples.  Do you still have that stamp?  If so, I would love to see an image of it.

OK, back to the mildew situation for Jean (polarbear).  It seems clear that any type of chemical treatment, whether dilute peroxide, dilute bleach, vinegar, etc. should be approached with caution, as these all may have the potential to damage the stamps.  I agree that it would be best if some sort of experimentation on worthless stamps could be done first to assess any potential effects on the ink/color before attempting it on the mildewed keepers.

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Side Note: Stevenson's comment about peroxide in his book on Cape Triangles, which we can imagine most likely referred to concentrated peroxide since he states that it was used to remove cancels, has led to modern philatelists interpreting his remarks to mean that it is unsafe to use even dilute peroxide to remedy sulfuretting.  Even experienced specialists like Richard Debney have not only stated that they would never use peroxide on Cape Triangles in any concentration, but they are so conservative as to suggest that even soaking in water is unsafe.  Stan, I think your comment about the formulation of the ink being a critical factor in how a stamp (or cancel) will react to various chemical treatments is right on the money!

Well, Stan (stainlessb), I am not sure if your comment is serious or not, but if it is serious, please do a "before" scan so that a side-by-side comparison can be made afterward.  If you are just joking, then no problem.  I will contact you by PM to discuss, because this is an area that I actually want to research.

Many thanks, Stan (stainlessb)!  It sounds like a very useful experiment, and I am glad that you are willing to undertake it.  I will contact you by PM to discuss, as I don't want to take this thread any further on this tangent.

Jean (polarbear), for your reference, if you choose to try to work with peroxide, here are a few tips:

• My experience is that the 3% formulation should be sufficient
• As Stan points out, it is best to use a fresh bottle to ensure predictable results
• For sulfuretting, Jim (jkjblue) and I have both used a 1-minute soak time, which has been enough in 80-90% of attempts
• In a couple of extreme cases, I did a second 1-minute soak, but I have never tried any beyond that
• For me, I did not want to risk any further soaks, and in one case at least, the peroxide treatment did not work, but it didn't damage the stamp, either
• In sticking to these short soak times, I have not seen any damage to stamp color or bluing of paper, so I consider them to be safe

Hope this may help.  Please let us know what you end up doing and how it goes.

Good luck!

Thanks for the update, Jean (polarbear ).  I am so sorry to hear that some of the stamps have been ruined.  What a shame, and how unfair to you after all that work.

One question for you: how wet were the stamps after soaking when you put them into the drying book?  Do you take them directly from the water and just put them in the drying book, or do you blot off excess moisture first?

Although I have not had any problems with mildew after soaking, I have found that blotting the stamps thoroughly after removal from the soaking water gives much better results in the end than skipping the blotting step.  When I used to skip the blotting step, I had more problems with adhesion similar to what you have described, and the stamps didn't look as nice after flattening.

Now I blot them until they are merely damp, not wet, and that has given me much better results.  It takes longer, but seems to be worth the extra time.

Edit: When I say "blot" I mean that I put the stamps directly out of the water face down on a clean, high-absorbent paper towel, and then I place another paper towel on top of that and press down with medium pressure just using my hands.  That usually takes them from soaking wet to damp.  Then I place them face down onto a cardboard blotter, and I use waxed paper against the backs to avoid problems with adhesion.  This system has worked very well for me for some years now.

Beryllium Guy , Alas I was not aware I needed to blot them that thoroughly. I did let them drip dry before placing them in the drying book, but apparently did not let them dry enough. I haven’t had that much trouble before, which I can only ascribe to good luck…and maybe the quality of the drying book.  I did have the occasional one stick, but not this many. 

ETA:  I do live near the ocean and it has been incredibly humid here recently, so maybe that has something to do with the mildew too.

Thanks for your follow-up post, Jean (polarbear ).  I would just say again how sorry I am that this has happened to you after all your time invested.

It sounds like a couple of tweaks to your soaking/drying process and perhaps some fresh materials for the press-flattening phase will get things back on track for you.  Also, I highly recommend the use of waxed paper against the backs of the stamps during press-flattening.  Since I started using waxed paper, I have never had a problem with adhesion, and I had issues periodically before that.  Now if a stamp sticks, the waxed paper can readily be peeled off without any damage to the stamp.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with all of us, as I feel sure that this discussion will be beneficial to others.

Best of luck for the future!

stainlessb (Stan)
Beryllium Guy (Chris)

When I saw the post above about a stamp completely fading with prolonged immersion in 3% H2O2, I thought of stamps that use water soluble ink.

For instance the 1933-37 Netherlands Indies issue (Scott 164-188) use soluble ink, and the design disappears with immersion in water.


1933-37 Rice field scene: Printed with water soluble Ink
Can you spot the stamps that were immersed in water?

I'm not saying that is the cause of Stan's stamp, but it needs to be ruled out.

jkjblue I don't remember exactly what stamp it was, but for the countries I do collect I avoid soaking questionable stamps, and if I have one that I really need to soak, I will await a damaged copy to test. I have also experimented with using a isopropyl alcohol solution on stamps that have the hinges that appear to have used a tar to adhere (it helps) and also on early Austria gum (doesn't much help, but stamps are not affected)

I have not tried this, but it seems it would be a better option han bleach: OxiClean.

Bleach may remove the spots, but you might stain.

As with any new method, experiment on something of no/little value

I just had a bad experience with an album found on a flea market. At first glance he looked fine, so Iused it to store some of my extras stamps in order to exchange them. 
They where stamp from tchecoslovaquia. I put the album together with other albums in a not humid place.
After a couples of weeks, I needed some of those stamps for an exchange, but then I get a very bad surprise! 
All the pages showed moisture and most of the stamp were contaminated too. 



I just keep the most valuable stamps, washed them with water added with a low dose of bleach but all the rest and the albums just go to garbage.

Since then, I decided not to buy any second hand album anymore.