Hi to you all. Does anyone have any tricks to getting rid of stamps, covers, postcards etc. that have been worked with by a heavy smoker. Or have been put in storage for years and smell musty and moldy. I only know to try cat litter and leave the stuff sealed, but it doesn't work so well. Maybe someone has better ideas. Please email me at lotreetops@msn.com Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks and best wishes, Lionel
Keep Postal systems alive, buy stamps and mail often 10 Aug 2009 07:58:39pm
re: Getting rid of stamps, covers that still smell from smoke
What an interesting a good question. I never had a lot of stamps that had that problem but I had a few musty ones. I took the petals of a rose and placed them behind water resistant page liners and closed the book on it. Now of course you get the smell of rose but, it's better than the musty ..... Perry
re: Getting rid of stamps, covers that still smell from smoke
Someone told me a long time ago that if you put them in a frost free freezer overnight it gets rid of the smell. I tried it once with success.
They also sell little 'pucks' that absorb smells. They do remove some of the smell, but I haven't had that much success using them.
If the stamps are used stamps you can resoak them in a drop of soap and water and redry them. That does get rid of the smell.
Whenever I buy kiloware or large quantities of stamps from any country other than Canada it always arrives reaking of what smells like diesel fuel, even though most times the stamps are wrapped in plastic. Maybe it's the plastic that reaks? Strange!
re: Getting rid of stamps, covers that still smell from smoke
I once cleaned some stamps from India with the same problem. I washed them in mild soap and warm water with a couple drops of household bleach. Worked well. I'm not totally confident with the bleach, but soap and water should not cause any problems if the stamps are well rinsed.
The covers are another problem. Can't help you there.
re: Getting rid of stamps, covers that still smell from smoke
For albums, I have had some moderate success by using fabric softener dryer sheets, spaced throughout and placed in a sealed plastic bag for a week or two. This method should also work on covers.
