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How to Unstick Stamps

When building a collection of adhesive postage stamps, it's a good idea to remove used stamps from their envelopes, otherwise your collection will soon grow bulky and untidy. A simple way of unsticking a used stamp from its paper backing is to soak it. This is a relatively straightforward process that offers little risk to the stamp, as the vast majority of stamps are printed with inks that aren't soluble in water. You should encounter few problems if you follow these steps.

Things You'll Need

Scissors
Bowl of water
Paper towel
Book (any)

Instructions

- 1
  Cut the stamps from the envelopes by snipping around them with a pair of scissors, leaving enough of a margin so that you don't run the risk of damaging the stamps by accident. If you have some colored envelopes, keeps the stamps from these separate from the ones on white or brown envelopes. This is because the ink in colored envelopes can run.
- 2
  Fill a bowl with water, then place the cut-out stamps --- those with white or brown backing paper --- facedown on the water's surface, stirring gently with your fingertip to stop the stamps from forming clumps. Leave the stamps in the water for half an hour. While you're waiting tear off at least four heets of paper towel and have one sheet laid out beside the bowl.
- 3
  Inspect the bowl. Most of the stamps should have come free of the pieces of envelope and drifted down to the bottom. Remove the pieces of envelope from the bowl. The next step will help you deal with any pieces of envelope which still have stamps attached.
- 4
  Flex and bend the piece of envelope until one of stamp's corners springs loose. Take hold of that corner between your finger and thumb --- don't use a pair of tweezers as the prongs will damage the moist stamp. Hold the stamp steady and peel the paper backing away from it. The two should come apart easily.
- 5
  Place the stamp facedown on the sheet of paper towel. Unstick the other stamps in the same manner and retrieve the loose stamps from the bottom of the bowl. When you have transferred all of the stamps onto the paper towel, lay another sheet of paper towel on top. Leave it there for a few moments, then place the stamps between a pair of dry sheets. Rest a book on top of them for an hour or so to stop them from curling. They should then be ready to be placed in an album or stock book.
- 6
  Repeat the process with any stamps attached to colored paper, but this time check regularly while the stamps are soaking for any signs that ink from the paper backing is leaking into the water. If this happens, lift out the stamps quickly before they can become stained and try to remove them from their backings as described in Step 4.

Stamp Collecting