[RICHARD]

I am starting this thread to capture some of the Q and A from the Stamps and Their Stories sessions. 

If you will be a guest speaker, it may help you prepare. 

I hope it will help all KSC members think about possible topics of interest to new members or prospects. Maybe we could include mini training sessions at a table in our meetings occasionally?

I would like to know how to soak stamps off envelopes.

The first thing to know about soaking stamps is - Don’t do it! At least not until you have studied the envelope in its entirety. Who sent it, who is it addressed to, what was its path through the postal system, what slogans and date stamps and cancellations does it carry? Often the envelope is of more interest to a collector than the stamp. 

The second thing to know about soaking stamps is - Don’t do it! Soaking can cause dyes to run from paper onto stamps. The material you layer between drying stamps can leave embossed patterns on stamps. Modern stamps require dangerous chemicals to dissolve adhesives. 

The third thing to know about soaking stamps is - Don’t do it! Your time is too valuable. Once you have determined that there is nothing on the envelope other than the stamp that you wish to keep, use a small paper trimmer (or scissors) to cut out a piece of the envelope with the stamp centred within a frame of 1/4 to 1/2 inch on all sides. These “stamps on piece” can be organized in stock books, in binders with specialty inserts, or secured on custom made pages with scrapbook tape or glue.

There is a new way to remove stamps from envelopes. You get a sponge a plastic container with a lid and a plastic shelf to hold the cover.  Soak sponge with distilled water!! put it in plastic container, place plastic shelf in container on top of sponge, place cover on top of shelf to keep it from coming in contact with sponge. Then put lid on container. This takes much longer to remove the stamp but it will come loose from the moisture . The stamp will still have gum on it and you could re attach stamp to cover. But if you do you will likely never be able to remove the stamp again from cover. Make sure your cover does not come in contact with the sponge directly!! This could cause it to stain. I would try this application with a cover with not much value at first just to get use to doing this method. Might not work on modern peal and stick stamps. Happy collecting