In the case of very stubborn specimens with this defect, they may be
steeped in the peroxide and allowed to soak, but should not be left
longer than is necessary to restore the original fresh colour.
A crease in an unused stamp may, if it has not cracked the paper, be
removed by following the crease on the back of the stamp with a fine
camel's-hair brush dipped in water. The slight soaking swells the gum
and enables one to gently press the paper into its normal position.
Pressure in the case of a big crease is best applied by ironing, the
stamp being protected between glazed cards. Where the gum is untidy on
the back of an unused stamp it will sometimes be useful to lay it,
after cleaning, upon the surface of smooth glass or the glazing-sheets
used for glossy prints by photographers, which will preserve what
remains of the original gum, and impart a gloss which compensates for a
partial loss of gum.
To preserve the tidy appearance of a collection in a printed album one
must sacrifice those portions of the margins adjoining stamps from the
outer edges of the printed sheets. In most cases it serves no purpose
to retain them, and they interfere with the symmetry of the pages.
The collector, too, must use his judgment as to the desirability of
trimming away unnecessary ragged protrusions of the perforation.
For all cleaning purposes benzine is an excellent medium, as its rapid
evaporation is a convenience, and it does not injure the stamp. Most
used stamps may be soaked in benzine and be much improved by the bath;
but where the colours of the stamp are such that immersion in liquid
is unsafe, treatment may be applied to the edges or to the back as
required by means of the camel's-hair brush.
The whole purpose of this care with individual stamps is to preserve
the specimens and to impart a composite beauty of condition to the
whole, without which no collection can be pleasing to its owner or
to any one else. Every unused stamp should be spotless so far as
extraneous blemishes are concerned; the colour should be fresh as when
it came from the printers' workshops; the perforations of each stamp
should be complete, and should have been neatly severed, and the gum on
the back, unless it is so thick and crackly that it is a danger to the
stamps, should be preserved intact.
A used stamp should be selected for its lightness of postmark, though
there are often times when a more heavily postmarked copy showing the
date of use will be valuable evidence in the pursuit of historical
researches. The colour of the used stamp should not be less good than
that of an unused one, and the perforations should be all there.
In the case of imperforate stamps it is desirable always to have as
large margins round the printed impression as possible; while in
all perforated stamps one should endeavour to secure well-centred
copies--that is to say, copies in which the printed impression falls
evenly between the perforations on all four sides.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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