Soaking off adhesive seals: white spirit and talcum powder

Ten times a year, I fill the newsletter with writing. This June issue is no exception, and it contains plenty of interesting reading, such as advice on removing adhesive stamps. You sometimes ask the members if they would like to write or post something as well. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work out perfectly. Still, it is nice to fill up a newsletter again. You scour the internet, record your experiences or problems with your own collection, or read articles from a book, and thus the newsletter fills up again all by itself. By now, practically everything can be found on the internet (and on Postzegelblog). Does making such a newsletter still make sense then? In my view, yes, because it is, after all, specific information that is useful to the members of our own association and to you. Sometimes you are confronted with an article for the second time and say: “Oh yes, good that they are drawing my attention to it again; then I’ll go check my collection to see if I also have that stamp with that defect!” All in all, I want to say that I will enthusiastically get to work again next season to gather information for our members. For now, a short holiday, and in two months I hope to have put together a new newsletter. Below is my advice for soaking off adhesive stamps.

White spirit and talcum powder

By now, there are already quite a few countries with "adhesive" stamps. Some you can simply soak off, but for many stamps you need to use white spirit and talcum powder. Belgium and the Netherlands also issued these types of stamps last year. Annoying? Yes, but on the other hand, you receive the stamps in your album in pristine condition, and I value that very much as well. The auction list of May 2012 also featured many lots with these types of stamps. Perhaps you purchased a few of these lots. It is important, however, to check whether the back has been properly treated with talc or menthol powder. Once you have the stamps in your album, it remains important to check them from time to time. You will then discover that they can still be a little bit sticky. I can fully understand that you don't like collecting these kinds of stamps. But take a look at a catalog that features Spain! They issue beautiful series with these "adhesive" stamps. Old cars, boats, flowers, building facades, etc. Brazil is also a country that issues a great many of these "sticker" stamps.

1. Just a quick reminder of the soaking procedure: Partially fill a glass jar with a layer of white spirit about 1 cm deep.
2. Throw enough adhesive stamps into the jar so that they are completely submerged in the white spirit.
3. You can remove the stamps from the jar after just 1 minute.
4. Carefully peel the stamps off the paper. Sometimes, and certainly with Spanish stamps, you have to pull hard on the stamp.
5. After half a day, you can apply talc or menthol powder to the back of the stamps with a cotton swab.
6. Rub in the applied menthol powder with your fingers.
7. Clean the other side of the stamp, the image side. Powder will inevitably get on it as well.

3 more important tips: Soak these seals in your garage or ensure good ventilation. Do not smoke! Wash your hands immediately after soaking the seals. Good luck! Happy reading in the June issue of the association magazine of the Leerdam Philatelic Society. (pdf 1,63 mb).