No, no, don't soak. Put it up on the web as Unique one of a kind, rare, antique ( older than a year) almost complete set on one piece. Ask ten thousand ( sorry one hundred hundred for our Canadian readers) There's got to be a mug out there somewhere who will take the bait.
So who has cover/envelope with the most stamps on, I'll dig out some of mine, lets see yours.
Just be thankful they are not USPS self adhesives.
Even Canadian self adhesives will yield to an overnight soak in water with a dash of dish washing soap, but I have had absolutely no success with the USPS ones.
I'd very much enjoy soaking off the stamps in you image....that'd be good fun. OK, so maybe I need to get a life, sigh.
Unfortunately, all the stamps on the cover shown by Opa were probably worth 15 cents when they were bought from the post office!
All kidding aside, the cancels on those stamps are a good example of the dark black, oily ink used, and not the ink type used by those who forged the cancels on the stamps years later.
Harvey I think, therefore I am - I think! 27 Apr 2019 11:28:44am
re: Going to be fun to soak this!!!
I used to get stuff like this all the time. My wife worked as a librarian at The Department of Fisheries in NS and they used to save the stamps for us. It's amazing how many stamps people used to use to mail a book. I soaked all of them - did I screw up? Most of them are from countries I don't collect. I do collect world up to 1940 whenever interesting stuff comes my way. What should I do with the pounds of newer stuff I have? I must see if there is a stamp club in my area. I never join clubs, I think it was Groucho Marx who said " I would never join a club that would consider me as a member", or words to that effect.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 27 Apr 2019 11:47:36am
re: Going to be fun to soak this!!!
No, you did not screw up.
In fact I am surprised at the ‘do not remove them from the paper’ opinions. No mention that most of these are on low quality cardboard or other paper which will damage the stamp after a period of time. Cardboard is notorious for being acidic. If opinions are to leave these stamp on this low quality paper, what are the opinions on properly conserving these stamps so they do not tone in a few years?
I have no idea why people would recommend leaving these stamps on piece without at least a note about the risks.
To be sure, collectors should never soak stamps without doing discovery. Contextual postmarks and other cover markings are often important. And of course full covers are typically valued higher than just a stamp. That's said, conserving and storing covers and stamps on paper is far more challenging/costly than just stamps.
Don
There's a distinction to be made between a neatly paperknifed cover with interesting stamps, well cancelled, and maybe other postal bits and bobs that people like, and a tatty piece of cardboard in which the only interest is in how many stamps fit onto it.
Tatty bits of cardboard may well be some people's preferred collecting item, or indeed playing how-big-is-yours-well-mine's-bigger, but storage is obviously a problem. As Studebaker says above, it's open to deterioration as well.
Soak them off. If there are any blocks of four or six in there, hang on to them. Put the remainder into your swaps box. That would be my advice.
Yes, save the inflation cover but the other pieces with multiples used on them are for soaking. I have a collection (several banker/file boxes) of the later material. I just don't have the time to soak. I thought I would have time after retirement but I'm busier now than when I was working.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 28 Apr 2019 04:13:23pm
re: Going to be fun to soak this!!!
Hi Vince,
How would you recommend the inflation fragment be conserved? Some of the 1000 mark stamps are already showing toning. What are your recommendations for preventing further acidification?
Don
Hi Don,
To be perfectly clear I am not a conservator of any kind. I do try to search for ways of protecting and preserving my collection. I believe the inflation cover is a cover and not a fragment. Either way what I do for a cover or contents that shows discoloration/ foxing/ acidification is the same.
If a cover is not brittle I may give it a light cleaning with "Steadtler Mars Plastic" eraser.
If the are tears that need repair I use "Lineco Transparent Mending Tissue" sparingly.
Practice is needed before using this product.
Next I cut a piece of acid free card stock just a bit smaller than the cover. I use a "Lineco ph Testing Pen" to make sure the card stock is ph neutral.
I place the cover in a "Safe" archival cover holder.
I do have some letters from WW2 that are definitely acidic. I put them in an "Avery pv119" sheet protector with a sheet of acid free card stock.
This has worked for me.
There are sprays for de-acidifying paper but I do not have any experience with them.
For Opa's cover I would just place the card stock inside the envelope and place in a "Safe" cover Holder.
My entry for "Most Stamps on a Single Cover", the obverse:
...and reverse:
It's a Germany Inflation Cover, postmarked August 24, 1923. Service postage (Dienstmarke overprint), from the Reichs Transport Ministry to the Prussian Hydraulic Engineering Office.
A partial sheet of 80 plus 2 = 82 stamps total. 25,000 Marks total, same as the rate for a domestic local letter weighing up to 500g. First day for the new rates, which were TWENTY times higher than the rates in effect since August 1. I paid $15 for the cover.
The surface area of the stamps almost exceeds the surface area of the envelope!
Two grubby pieces of envelopes that were - so I am told - sent to the Philippines and somehow found their way back in the town of origin. Between them they have 4/5 of a counter sheet of the Friedrich List stamp applied. No record, I'm sure, but remarkable, as there were stamps of higher face value available even when these letters or more likely air mail parcels were sent. I guess soaking won't help much here ...
Martin
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