Graham's Mixed Lot Treasure Hunt

The Sword of Justice stamp is very interesting and thanks to daniel for the pointers. Here’s some links I have found

axis-militaria.com/product/ww1-british-propaganda-stamp-take-up-the-sword-of-justice-lusitania/
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/21142
picclick.com/WW1-British-Propaganda-Stamp-Take-up-the-391441690540.html
artsandculture.google.com/asset/take-up-the-sword-of-justice-bernard-partridge/5AG9PDawrUfhHw?hl=en
artsandculture.google.com/entity/m071zvfm?hl=en

I think that’s enough links for now but an interesting bit of history. The artist was an illustrator for `punch magazine and created this as a protest to the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. I would love to see the full size posters. Apparently they were made in different sizes. 

I’ve added images of the stamp up close. Sadly most of the inscription on the back has gone as it looks like it was torn off of something. There is still the original gum in places.

radiocruncher - re your take up the sword poster stamp, on my screen the back side appears to have foreign matter adhered to it as opposed to being torn away. If so, and if mine, I would soak it to remove the paper to reveal the inscription and forget about the gum.  IMO.

Thanks JeffS I photographed it under acetate which may have made it look like that. The light areas are very thin so it’s definitely lost paper. 

Well I had a go at the mint penny red with 11% hydrogen peroxide, a cotton bud and some water to neutralise. Thanks to vikingeck I now have a nice clean stamp.

Before and after photos.

Graham
May i ask why you clean/peroxide an old stamp?
Old stamps have a certain patina about them that sun/moisture/time affects them.

Why i am saying this is when i was into antique furniture, a dealer would never try to change the patina.
In the antique world if some one change the patina the furniture became worth less.

Do you think that this may hold true with stamps...?
Just a thought.

Robert

Thanks for your posts, Robert (WERT ) and Graham (radiocruncher ).

Robert, you raise an interesting point, and it is one which was recently discussed in another thread that you started about the good and bad aspects of repairing/ restoring stamps:

thestampforum.boards.net/thread/8440/stamp-restoration-good-thing-bad

With all due respect, I would like to offer the opinion that preserving the patina on a piece of antique furniture is not the same thing as removing damage on a stamp or even on furniture, for that matter.  It is my understanding that the patina on an antique is something that develops naturally due to the changes (perhaps sometimes subtle) that take place in a surface finish such as shellac or varnish over time.

Sticking with furniture then, I understand why one might want to preserve as much of the original finish as possible, but what about surfaces that get damaged by staining, mould, or moisture for example?  Would you argue that this is also part of the patina that should be preserved?  Sorry, but I don't think it is the same thing as natural aging.

In the case of Graham's stamp, the reason that the hydrogen peroxide treatment was effective is because his stamp was sulphurized, i.e. the colour was damaged by a reaction between the lead in the ink and sulphur pollutants in the air.  Not all Penny Reds show this, just those affected by sufficient sulphur pollution in the air.  Personally, I would consider that damage rather than patina worth preserving.

Just my opinion, of course, and open for others to agree or disagree.  If it had been my stamp, I would have also been happy to clean up the sulphurized areas.

What may be desirable “patina” of age on old furniture, is not a quality desired on a stamp however old it is .

The collector delights in “freshness” where ever possible and the “dirt” of ages from grubby fingers, transit in the post, careless storage or in this case exposure to sulphur from coal fires or coal gas lighting, if it can be removed carefully by washing or  a little Peroxide will improve the appearance. On a stamp it is not “patina” it is “dirt”.

this is legitimate restoration in the eyes of collectors, (not to be confused with removing a postmark or pen cancel on a fiscal, or repairing a tear or a thin); You must agree WERT that Graham has made his stamp more attractive and hence by this cleaning has actually made it more desirable to others and so increased its value!

Peroxide removed the sulphur discolouration . The stamp is not “bleached.” it is back to what is the normal colour of an un-sulphuretted penny red. 

Over a long lifetime I have handled thousands of penny reds in all kinds of condition. Like the penny black, They are robust , they can even be boiled in a saucepan to remove grease !

in this case warm water would not have reversed the dark brown discolouration and besides it would have affected the gum which remains . 


Of course there is a caveat….you cannot do this with a lot of other stamps , it is just that these issues are so tough.

this is now a nice unused penny red with original gum ……definitely does not look bleached . 

It’s a mint stamp so I didn’t want to immerse it. I tried Luke warm water and a cotton bud initially but that had no effect. I have gone over it to make sure the hydrogen peroxide is neutralised.

Time for the last couple of pages from the GB section of the old Lincoln album. Shout if there’s a country you want to see next. The album is a bit sparse in places though.

Well Pete, it has a manuscript pen cancel simply because it IS NOT POSTAGE. It never went near a post office. So no one had a cds to cancel it.It is a tax stamp which is hand signed on a receipted invoice. Fiscal usage always dated and signed…..

receipts from a company when you paid an account always had a revenue stamp to be cancelled in ink by hand even as late as the 1960s in UK.  TheVictorian large  tax stamps were later replaced by George V, Vi and Elizabeth Wliding regular  2d “postage and revenue”, but still usually cancelled by hand except for larger companies or utilities who might employ a purple inked hand stamp if they were handling a lot of receipted invoices.

I’m glad you brought that up wakeybluenose as I was going to ask how to distinguish what a Prussian blue shade is. I do have a couple other mint examples and this block looks darker and fresher than my existing ones

Unfortunately I wouldn't know a prussian blue if it jumped up and kissed me! There are a couple for sale on ebay at the moment at around £15,000 though.

Good luck!
Kevin in London