Philatelic Surgery: Diagnosis, Prognosis & Outcome

You sure did a wonderful job here, Chris Beryllium Guy - I am impressed ++

René

Great article and excellent advice. I would only add to use caution when selecting a paper towel to dry stamps. I’ve posted about this before - the embossing can be transferred to the stamps.

I bought a drying book, but the pages warp due to the bit of water left in the stamps. The first time use is great, then subsequent uses are OK due to the un-eveness of the previously damp blotting paper. I blot the wet stamps on paper towels too, then transfer them. Using blotting paper & wax paper under a heavy book sounds like an ideal solution.

Philatelic Surgery:
Removing Hinge Remnants & Adherent Paper
Examination of Patients & Surgery Prep

I received a nice PM from Vince (stanley64 ) this morning asking me to elaborate on some comments I made in a recent post in the Whatcha Been Stamping? thread regarding what I like to call "philatelic surgery".  In that particular case, I mentioned removal of hinge remnants from some unused stamps.  In response to Vince's request, I will post some info about the processes I follow, as well as some idea as how to decide which process to use.

Step One: To soak or not to soak, that is the question....
When possible, simply soaking in water to remove hinge remnants or adherent paper is the easiest and best way and generally gives very good results.  For a long time, it has been the case that the vast majority of stamps can safely be soaked in water to clean them and remove anything adhering.  With the advent of modern self-adhesive stamps that has changed somewhat, as many of those will not separate from paper by soaking in water, requiring other kinds of solvents.

So, what about the cases of stamps printed in so-called "fugitive" inks (also referred to as water-soluble or aniline inks) or unused stamps with original gum?  When I first got back into stamp collecting actively in the early 1990s, I just soaked everything in water, including unused stamps that were stuck to each other or stamps with fugitive inks.  Since then, I have learned to be more careful in identifying stamps printed with fugitive inks, and I have come to realize that soaking off all the gum from an unused stamp is not always necessary to remove hinge or paper remnants.


Philatelic Patients, Fronts & Backs:  Hong Kong Sc44 10c Violet on Red Paper, Sc91 5c Orange & Gray Green, and others
I highlight the first two stamps in this group of six, because the violet ink on Sc44 and the gray-green vignette on Sc91 are known to be water-soluble.
Due to the pervasive presence of fugitive inks on classic HK stamps, I rarely soak any of them anymore, just to be safe and not fade the colors.

Step Two: Prep for the Process
This is nothing too complicated.  For equipment, I use a fine camel-hair art brush, two pairs of stamp tongs (one pair spade-tipped and one pair with pointed ends), clean absorbent paper towels or napkins (serviettes), warm water, and Stamp-Lift Fluid or equivalent.  I always try to do this sort of thing during daylight hours and to work in an area with good natural light.  I find that I can see fine detail better in natural light than artificial.  I would suggest choosing whichever lighting works best for you.

Personally, I find this important, as sometimes it can be difficult for me to distinguish remaining bits of hinge on the back a moist unused stamp from the areas where other bits have already been removed.  This happens often with unused stamps that have multiple hinge remnants, one layered on top of the next.  So, lighting is important.


Tools for the operation, as described above.  Having two pairs of tongs can be useful at times when one can be used to hold onto the patient while the other is used to remove the unwanted hinge remnant or adherent bits of paper.

Step Three: Doing the Deed
Once I have identified my patients and gathered everything I need, it's time to operate.  I use the art brush to apply either water or fluid to the bit of hinge or paper that I want to remove.  I tend to use water when working with non-fugitive-ink stamps, and the Stamp-Lift Fluid when working with fugitive ink examples, just as an extra precaution.  My experience is that even fugitive ink stamps can be successfully treated with water, as long as it is done sparingly and carefully.

As this post is getting quite long, I am going to stop at this point.  I will make a separate post with more illustrations showing a stamp during the process and then the end results on the six above.  Stay tuned.

Philatelic Surgery:
DWI Project Lot (1st Installment)

As mentioned in the Whatcha thread, I recently bought this lot of DWI, 9 used stamps, all stuck down on an old album page.  The eBay seller stated this condition factor in his listing, and it proved to be quite accurate.  I did a closer inspection after receiving the lot, and I became concerned because every single one of these was really stuck down hard and fast to the album page.


Left: The album page as received.  Right: A close-up of the two stamps on the lower right of the page remnant, with red arrows indicating some foreign material underneath the stamps.  It was unclear if this was glue, adherent paper, hinges, repairs, or something else.  The DWI 14c is quite a high CV stamp, so this is the one that I was most concerned about and wanted to remove intact, if at all possible.

I proceeded cautiously, cutting up the page remnant into smaller pieces and beginning by doing a test soak on a single stamp, just to get an idea of what I would be dealing with, before attempting to liberate the 14c.  I started with the 10c in the lower right corner of the page.


Left: The 10c stamp adhered to the album page immersed in warm tap water.  Right:  The album page piece now separated from the stamp after about 6-7 minutes of soak time.  The stamp started to separate from the page after a while, but it did not float freely off the paper on its own.  Spade-tipped tongs were used to gently complete the separation.

More tomorrow on how things went with the other stamps, including the prized 14c.

Philatelic Surgery:
DWI Project Lot (2nd Installment)

As promised earlier, here is the next post to progress this story.  As Alex (vikingeck ) keenly observed just from looking at the DWI Sc1 when still affixed to the album page, it was indeed one of the dark-brown gum varieties.  And as Vince (stanley64 ) also importantly noted, the glue that stuck these stamps down to the page appears to have been a mucilage or brown glue.  Luckily for me, despite the fact that the glue looks rather daunting and a bit nasty in appearance, in fact, mucilage is water soluble, which this most definitely was, and it doesn't appear to have stained the stamps, even though it did discolor the underlying page.


Top: Three early DWI issues, the album page remnant now cut into smaller, separate pieces for soaking in tap water.
Bottom: The three stamps laid down on their fronts for inspection of the backs.  It is interesting to note how completely the cancel shows through the paper on a couple of these.  That's not anything that I would have ever viewed as an issue, but JeffS has mentioned previously that cancels that show all the way through a stamp could possibly have been added later, which does give me pause.  Anyway, it is clear that the example on the left definitely has the dark brown gum, which is rather glutinous in nature and seems to have caused the stamp to curl.  The other two had adherent paper on their backs, which stuck to the album page even after soaking.

Tomorrow, I will remove all of the stamps from press flattening to see how they have fared.  Fingers crossed for good results!

Thanks for your additional comments, Alex (vikingeck ).

I did do some scraping of the brown gum off the back of that DWI Sc1, but as it still curled as shown in the photo, I may not have done enough.  I will take it out from press flattening later today and see how it looks and if the residual gum is still sticky.  I used waxed paper for the press-flattening operation, so even if the back sticks to that, I will be able to peel it off.

I am glad to know that the target cancel looks OK.  I also thought it looked fine, but I was a little concerned about Jeff's (JeffS) comments in other contexts that cancels that bleed all the way through a stamp are suspect for having been added on later.  I had never heard that before, and I found it an interesting idea, although I am not quite sure when it applies and when not.

Anyway, we shall see.  I will post more later today.

Stan (stainlessb), there was a thread started by Linda about postmark ink composition here:

thestampforum.boards.net/thread/9578/cancellation-postmark-ink

To continue on the subject of postmark inks, please consider posting in that thread.  It's certainly an area worthy of further discussion, and it would be great to keep that info all in one place.

Now I know from experience that "surgeons" do not always discuss their outcomes     René

Congratulations Chris Beryllium Guy on the successful outcome of your DWI purchase and salvage operation. The bicolors still have a fresh appearance and bright colors. There is no doubt that the 14-cent stamp is postally used, and not a later applied cancel. It is outcomes such as this which help make up for those not-so-great purchases that we all sometimes make.

Just faced with an OMG! Situation in a huge collection I have to  assess……….

L