Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I'm new to collecting stamps and doing a lot of research to get started. I've ended up in a lot of hobbies that seemed fun at first, but when you really got into it you had to practically kill yourself keeping the whatever-it-was in perfect shape. So my research is mostly to figure out how I want to store and preserve the stamps and see if messing with stamps is going to give me anxiety. My intention is to relax and keep it fun. I want to collect single stamps only (at the moment) and possibly blocks of stamps that are a set of different designs. My main collection will be botanicals, but I also want to collect U.S. stamps because I won't be able to resist at the P.O. anyway. My question is about mounting self-adhesives. Since I'll be collecting a lot of new issues at first, I'll need to mount many unused self-adhesives. I understand most people cut the backing out around the stamp and mount it that way, but I would like the edges to stand out, maybe on a black background. I was thinking about affixing the new stamps to archival baseball card sleeves, and then cutting around them before mounting. I realize the stamps will no longer be mint or unused if I do this, but is there any other reason not to mount them this way?
I hope I'm making sense, and sorry if I have misused any stamp terminology.
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Welcome to Stamporama, a very friendly stamp group.
Jim
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Welcome!
To address one minor point: if you remove the PSA (Pressure Sensitive Adhesive) from the stamp, you can arrange the stamps on black stock sheets (search Vario) (to name one) - or hinge them to any (archival quality) black paper you like - and get that perfs-pop-out look you are hoping for.
We don't have a lot of information about what will happen to PSA stamps over, say, decades.
For example, will that adhesive dry out? Eventually collect moisture? Eventually react with something in the air - or in the air in your home - or in the paper you mount them on - and discolor your stamps?
Moreover, there have clearly been more than one type of PSA used in the past, and there might well be new types used in the future, and they might all face different risks.
Various treatments (search Pure Citrus) will help you remove the adhesive, but we also know near zero about what traces those solvents might leave behind, and what those chemicals will do, or have done to them, over time.
For GPU (Genuinely Postally Used) stamps, one suggestion is just trimming close to the stamp & leaving the paper remnant in place. Of course, we all know that most paper changes over time (search archival), might even react with the PSA over time, all of which introduces a near-random element as you are not selecting the specific paper that will be in contact with each specific stamp.
Another suggestion (search youtube) is to use enough solvent to remove the stamp from the envelope, and then place it on some other thin backing, but it will be very difficult to ever safely remove that stamp from a non-porous backing (because the solvent will only penetrate from one side).
Here's a suggestion: Try a couple of different methods, and see which one you like doing because, frankly, you are going to be doing it a lot ... the one that you enjoy is the one that you are most likely to do.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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"if you remove the PSA (Pressure Sensitive Adhesive) from the stamp"
Note that he was not suggesting that you remove the backing paper from a mint, never hinged self-adhesive stamp and attach the stamp to the album page. To be considered mint, never hinged, the self-adhesive stamp must be left secure to the backing paper (that also means do not pull the stamp from the backing paper and re-affix the stamp to the backing paper).
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This is an example of mounting a self-adhesive stamp in a traditional manner. The stamps are put into mounts (like Showgard, Prinz, Scott) with backing attached since never postally used.
For some stamps like those that come in booklets you will need a nice sharp knife to slit the backing to remove if you want to keep the liner.
Self-adhesives are definitely a challenge.
Now some people realizing these stamps are not valuable could just remove them from backing (release liner) and apply to a dark background. This is not a traditional method and may get some criticism from some but if that works for you then it is ok.
Welcome to the hobby and there are many ways to collect. The important aspect is to collect for you.
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Thanks everybody for the replies. There's a lot to think about. I'm not so worried about the stamps staying mint, but just from my experience with collectible items in the past, I am concerned about the long-term affects of the adhesive. (Not to say I wouldn't keep extras still on the backing paper when possible.)
I've been experimenting with the different methods I've read about for removing a used stamp, and there were two that seemed to work best for me: rubbing alcohol on a soft paintbrush, and just peeling the stamp off carefully. With both methods, about half of the adhesive remained on the stamp--though surprisingly, on the first stamp I peeled off, the adhesive remained on the envelope and left me with a perfectly clean stamp. I was so excited until I peeled off the next one and it was sticky. So I need to think about how to remove the remaining glue. I think rubbing alcohol might be fine, but the paintbrush is too soft so maybe a cotton swab.
Oh, the last time I peeled a stamp off I first put it in the freezer for a few hours. It seemed to peel off easier than the others.
The biggest fails were soaking in water with dish soap and soaking for 24 hours in clean water. The soaking made it much more difficult to handle the stamp. Also, whenever the stamp is wet, I have a hard time figuring out when I've hit the stamp when removing glue, and so I've torn through many. It's not that I don't respect the flag, but I've destroyed a lot of them the past few days. 
I have yet to try Pure Citrus or Goo Gone. It seems like the oil would stain the stamp permanently? I will give it a shot next time I get to a store that carries the Pure Citrus.
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.
I have a friend who is a lifelong fan of Goo Gone, so I tried it once on a package, and it left a profound oily residue.
As Pure Citrus is an air freshener , it is perhaps unsurprising that the bulk liquid evaporates quickly.
I am planning to buy a few oaktag-type stock cards to see how long it takes for the slight residual odor to leave the stamps.
Regardless of the choice of solvent, try scraping your stamps with a single-edge razor blade.
only ten cents each in packs of one hundred from Uline
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who would let chilled stamps warm to room temperature before having at them with a scraper)
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I use mounts with a black background, and sometimes the backing paper is scored such that the perfs are exposed when tearing the stamps apart. The example bottom left may be close to what you are looking for.
You can peel back the backing just a bit and trim it so that the perfs are nicely exposed and look sharp in the mount. I have never had a problem removing such a stamp from a mount because the amount of adhesive in the perfs is minimal. (Just don't cut the backing paper away any more than necessary).
With very few exceptions, do whatever you want with modern stamps. There are few that you could ever realize more than face value for anyway, so this method keeps them valid for postage.
Don't worry about whether it's still considered MNH or not. That seems irrelevant for what you want to do. If you enjoy the hobby and find yourself pushing back into yesteryear and water-activated (lick and stick) stamps, you will want to be a bit more discerning.
In some cases, though, EXTRA backing paper can be useful:
The perfs on the above stamps would have been lost without the backing paper, so I intentionally cut beyond the scoring lines of the backing paper to get a good look.
Good luck!
Lars
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larsdog, thanks for the advice and pictures of your album pages. They look nice. I like the design of the pages you're using.
I got some of the 5¢ and 10¢ fruit stamps from my P.O. yesterday so I have some more stamps to experiment with. I'm just keeping the stamps I collect as they are in a paper-storage tub until I decide exactly how I want to mount them. Thanks for the help everyone! I feel a lot less intimidated now.
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Folks on the board know I run against the grain. Thus, I keep my self adhesives a bit differently than most.
I cut the backing sheet large and wide, creating a border. Yes, I use the stamps all the way around the stamp I'm keeping to get the wide border. I like them this way and anyone who owns my stamps in the future can cut them closer if desired so no harm, no foul!
Notice that some of the stamps just have the perforations cut into the sheet, while other stamps have a narrow border of selvage all around which makes my presentation a bit more interesting. Notice that on the Elvis stamp, his signature goes off the stamp into the selvage so I wanted to have that as well.
Just another option!
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This is how I did Mendoza, for example:
But it just goes to show that everyone should feel free to structure their collection and present the contents in a way that pleases them.
I love seeing different ideas!
Lars
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Very cool to see the different approaches! Thanks!
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Just remember that if you remove a self-adhesive stamp from the backing paper, and re-position it on the backing paper, the stamp is no longer considered to be MNH.
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06:38:54pm
Hi, everyone! I'm new to collecting stamps and doing a lot of research to get started. I've ended up in a lot of hobbies that seemed fun at first, but when you really got into it you had to practically kill yourself keeping the whatever-it-was in perfect shape. So my research is mostly to figure out how I want to store and preserve the stamps and see if messing with stamps is going to give me anxiety. My intention is to relax and keep it fun. I want to collect single stamps only (at the moment) and possibly blocks of stamps that are a set of different designs. My main collection will be botanicals, but I also want to collect U.S. stamps because I won't be able to resist at the P.O. anyway.
My question is about mounting self-adhesives. Since I'll be collecting a lot of new issues at first, I'll need to mount many unused self-adhesives. I understand most people cut the backing out around the stamp and mount it that way, but I would like the edges to stand out, maybe on a black background. I was thinking about affixing the new stamps to archival baseball card sleeves, and then cutting around them before mounting. I realize the stamps will no longer be mint or unused if I do this, but is there any other reason not to mount them this way?
I hope I'm making sense, and sorry if I have misused any stamp terminology.
Login to Like
this post
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
Welcome to Stamporama, a very friendly stamp group.
Jim
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
Welcome!
To address one minor point: if you remove the PSA (Pressure Sensitive Adhesive) from the stamp, you can arrange the stamps on black stock sheets (search Vario) (to name one) - or hinge them to any (archival quality) black paper you like - and get that perfs-pop-out look you are hoping for.
We don't have a lot of information about what will happen to PSA stamps over, say, decades.
For example, will that adhesive dry out? Eventually collect moisture? Eventually react with something in the air - or in the air in your home - or in the paper you mount them on - and discolor your stamps?
Moreover, there have clearly been more than one type of PSA used in the past, and there might well be new types used in the future, and they might all face different risks.
Various treatments (search Pure Citrus) will help you remove the adhesive, but we also know near zero about what traces those solvents might leave behind, and what those chemicals will do, or have done to them, over time.
For GPU (Genuinely Postally Used) stamps, one suggestion is just trimming close to the stamp & leaving the paper remnant in place. Of course, we all know that most paper changes over time (search archival), might even react with the PSA over time, all of which introduces a near-random element as you are not selecting the specific paper that will be in contact with each specific stamp.
Another suggestion (search youtube) is to use enough solvent to remove the stamp from the envelope, and then place it on some other thin backing, but it will be very difficult to ever safely remove that stamp from a non-porous backing (because the solvent will only penetrate from one side).
Here's a suggestion: Try a couple of different methods, and see which one you like doing because, frankly, you are going to be doing it a lot ... the one that you enjoy is the one that you are most likely to do.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
12:59:44am
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
"if you remove the PSA (Pressure Sensitive Adhesive) from the stamp"
Note that he was not suggesting that you remove the backing paper from a mint, never hinged self-adhesive stamp and attach the stamp to the album page. To be considered mint, never hinged, the self-adhesive stamp must be left secure to the backing paper (that also means do not pull the stamp from the backing paper and re-affix the stamp to the backing paper).
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Login to Like.
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
This is an example of mounting a self-adhesive stamp in a traditional manner. The stamps are put into mounts (like Showgard, Prinz, Scott) with backing attached since never postally used.
For some stamps like those that come in booklets you will need a nice sharp knife to slit the backing to remove if you want to keep the liner.
Self-adhesives are definitely a challenge.
Now some people realizing these stamps are not valuable could just remove them from backing (release liner) and apply to a dark background. This is not a traditional method and may get some criticism from some but if that works for you then it is ok.
Welcome to the hobby and there are many ways to collect. The important aspect is to collect for you.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
12:53:02pm
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
Thanks everybody for the replies. There's a lot to think about. I'm not so worried about the stamps staying mint, but just from my experience with collectible items in the past, I am concerned about the long-term affects of the adhesive. (Not to say I wouldn't keep extras still on the backing paper when possible.)
I've been experimenting with the different methods I've read about for removing a used stamp, and there were two that seemed to work best for me: rubbing alcohol on a soft paintbrush, and just peeling the stamp off carefully. With both methods, about half of the adhesive remained on the stamp--though surprisingly, on the first stamp I peeled off, the adhesive remained on the envelope and left me with a perfectly clean stamp. I was so excited until I peeled off the next one and it was sticky. So I need to think about how to remove the remaining glue. I think rubbing alcohol might be fine, but the paintbrush is too soft so maybe a cotton swab.
Oh, the last time I peeled a stamp off I first put it in the freezer for a few hours. It seemed to peel off easier than the others.
The biggest fails were soaking in water with dish soap and soaking for 24 hours in clean water. The soaking made it much more difficult to handle the stamp. Also, whenever the stamp is wet, I have a hard time figuring out when I've hit the stamp when removing glue, and so I've torn through many. It's not that I don't respect the flag, but I've destroyed a lot of them the past few days.
I have yet to try Pure Citrus or Goo Gone. It seems like the oil would stain the stamp permanently? I will give it a shot next time I get to a store that carries the Pure Citrus.
Login to Like
this post
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
.
I have a friend who is a lifelong fan of Goo Gone, so I tried it once on a package, and it left a profound oily residue.
As Pure Citrus is an air freshener , it is perhaps unsurprising that the bulk liquid evaporates quickly.
I am planning to buy a few oaktag-type stock cards to see how long it takes for the slight residual odor to leave the stamps.
Regardless of the choice of solvent, try scraping your stamps with a single-edge razor blade.
only ten cents each in packs of one hundred from Uline
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who would let chilled stamps warm to room temperature before having at them with a scraper)
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
I use mounts with a black background, and sometimes the backing paper is scored such that the perfs are exposed when tearing the stamps apart. The example bottom left may be close to what you are looking for.
You can peel back the backing just a bit and trim it so that the perfs are nicely exposed and look sharp in the mount. I have never had a problem removing such a stamp from a mount because the amount of adhesive in the perfs is minimal. (Just don't cut the backing paper away any more than necessary).
With very few exceptions, do whatever you want with modern stamps. There are few that you could ever realize more than face value for anyway, so this method keeps them valid for postage.
Don't worry about whether it's still considered MNH or not. That seems irrelevant for what you want to do. If you enjoy the hobby and find yourself pushing back into yesteryear and water-activated (lick and stick) stamps, you will want to be a bit more discerning.
In some cases, though, EXTRA backing paper can be useful:
The perfs on the above stamps would have been lost without the backing paper, so I intentionally cut beyond the scoring lines of the backing paper to get a good look.
Good luck!
Lars
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
02:51:00pm
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
larsdog, thanks for the advice and pictures of your album pages. They look nice. I like the design of the pages you're using.
I got some of the 5¢ and 10¢ fruit stamps from my P.O. yesterday so I have some more stamps to experiment with. I'm just keeping the stamps I collect as they are in a paper-storage tub until I decide exactly how I want to mount them. Thanks for the help everyone! I feel a lot less intimidated now.
Login to Like
this post
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
Folks on the board know I run against the grain. Thus, I keep my self adhesives a bit differently than most.
I cut the backing sheet large and wide, creating a border. Yes, I use the stamps all the way around the stamp I'm keeping to get the wide border. I like them this way and anyone who owns my stamps in the future can cut them closer if desired so no harm, no foul!
Notice that some of the stamps just have the perforations cut into the sheet, while other stamps have a narrow border of selvage all around which makes my presentation a bit more interesting. Notice that on the Elvis stamp, his signature goes off the stamp into the selvage so I wanted to have that as well.
Just another option!
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like this post.
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re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
This is how I did Mendoza, for example:
But it just goes to show that everyone should feel free to structure their collection and present the contents in a way that pleases them.
I love seeing different ideas!
Lars
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
03:39:54pm
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
Very cool to see the different approaches! Thanks!
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04:51:29pm
re: New collector and how to mount self-adhesives.
Just remember that if you remove a self-adhesive stamp from the backing paper, and re-position it on the backing paper, the stamp is no longer considered to be MNH.
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