I have a small souvenir sheet, Korea, Scott #579a, that has a couple of wrinkles, not creases, but rounded wrinkles running horizontal across the sheet. It had been stored in a glassine, but some how was bunched up and caused the problem.
Question: Other than getting wet and pressing and after having been pressed under very heavy load for about a month is there a way to remove the wrinkles without messing up the gum? Other than the wrinkles the sheet is MNH.
If you get the stamp/sheet wet, the gum is going to be damaged.
You might try some dry heat. I was going to test out using a flat bottom (no steam holes) clothing iron at low heat. I was going to place the stamp on a hard board, place a thin cloth over the stamp and then gently press the iron down over the stamp.
I have never gotten around to trying that out, but that was my plan. It would be easy to crease the stamp, and also to burn the stamp paper. It would take some experimenting on cheap stamps to see how viable a method that would be.
In this instance I would revert to a small laminate ply wooden flower press; the thicker the better. I would use a sandwich of thick blotting paper and a rigid plastic sheet and turn the clamp screws and washers as tightly by hand at possible. Corrugated plastic sheeting should be avoided.
Confine this to a warmish drawer for a considerable amount of time and forget about it.
It may not work, but no harm will come to it. So there's nothing lost.
There is a type of philatelic drying book on the market which uses the very same principle, but it relies on plastic moulded strengthening splines which tend to distort under tension. Consequently, it is not possible to achieve a true rigidity.
I also use the wooden flower press when soaking blocks etc to force as much water out the paper, to achieve a perfectly flat piece. So it is multi purpose.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 21 Mar 2018 09:17:11pm
re: Wrinkles in Souvenir Sheets
A stack of Scott catalogs will press stamps quite well.
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Michael is right, I do not want to get the gum wet. I want to keep it as MNH and the dampness will mess with the gum. I might try the heat suggestion if I can find a wrinkled stamp to practice on. I might have another, cheaper SS that is wrinkled. Will let you know what happens with the flat iron.
cdj1122 you are correct about the catalogs. That is what I have been using, in fact I have 5 of them stacked.
Might also try the flower press with out the moisture if I can find one.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Mel
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