Stamp Collecting for Beginners and Philatelists
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This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.
February 2002
Sort the stamps according to their envelope paper. Colored envelope paper might run when soaked, and though plain white envelopes are usually color-fast, manila envelopes tend to stain stamps yellow. Soak stamps on colored envelopes by themselves.Be aware of "fugitive inks." Some stamps were printed with inks that dissolve in water. They would stop the removal of cancellations and their reuse.
Use the right-sized bowl for the job. Instead of cramming hundreds of stamps into a coffee cup, place a few in a swimming pool.
Never use HOT water. Mild warm water is fine. Cold is good, too. Some people use mild liquid dish soap as a wetting agent to help the process along.
When the soaked stamps starts swimming free around the bowl, pour out the gummy water and refill the bowl with enough fresh clean water to cover the stamps, allowing you to fish them out easily. Use a blotter to dry your stamps.
Sort through the stamps one-by-one, placing each one face-down on the drying sheets and tossing away the bits of envelope. The trick is to skim the stamp onto your fingertip and then lay it onto the paper. A medical tongue depressor works well.
When a stamp won't come loose, let it soak. After the stamps' excess water has dried up but BEFORE they curl up, start pressing your blottered stamps.
Here are a few Web sources about soaking stamps to consider.
Factors Involved in the Removal of Stamps from Paper
http://www.stamps.org/care/subp2.htm
How to Avoid Common Mistakes As a Beginning Stamp Collector
http://www.jpastamps.org/begmistprint.html
How to Soak
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/8406/tips.htm
Philatelic Techniques and Musings
http://www.execulink.com/%7Ejhagg/hints.htm
Removing Stamps from Paper
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4049/stamps/stamp_t.html
Soaking & Pressing
http://www.members.global2000.net/%7Etracy/rcs-faq/backup/Ch08.html
Soaking Stamps
http://www.ioa.com/~ggayland/junior/soaking_stamps.htm
Soaking Used Stamps from Envelope Paper
http://www.linns.com/print/archives/011298/
Three Tips for Stamp Collectors
http://www.stamps.org/aps/services/ktips.htm
Please go back
How many times has this happened to you? You're buying online. You fill in all the information, spending 10, 15 minutes getting it all set. Then when you submit your order, you're informed of an error and told to go back and correct it. You click to go back and the whole form is blank.
You've just experienced a contingency design flaw, and you like many surfers will just leave the site. Now, if you'd like to read about some of the Web's worst flaws, then check out "Design Not Found," a small site dedicated to exposing all the flubs and foibles of some of the WWW's most expensive sites.
Design Not Found
http://www.37signals.com/dnf/
Salt Lake Olympics
During the last Olympic games, the host country issued instant winner's commemoratives for the home team, but it won't happen this time. The USPS issued a se-tenant set of four stamps showing winter athletes in conjunction with the Salt Lake City winter games, but as Olympic stamps are one of the most popular worldwide philatelic specialties, there will be many, many new issues released around the world for the SLC games.
The games may well be one of the more traditional games in a long while, and probably one of the most watched in a long time. Opening day ceremonies for the 17 day event will be held Friday the eighth.
Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics (official site)
http://www.saltlake2002.com
